Brandon Brown
One of the biggest stories of the 2024 season so far is Juan Soto’s MVP-caliber excellence in his first campaign with the New York Yankees. This, of course, is a fitting prelude to what will be one of the biggest stories of the upcoming offseason: Soto’s free agency and the Yankees’ prospects for retaining his services beyond 2024.
This is indeed Soto’s walk year, and given the excellence of his career and the fact that he will be quite young as far as free agents go (he won’t turn 26 until the end of October), the slugger is walking for a big payday, almost certainly well over $400 million. Soto is represented by Scott Boras, and Boras’s most important clients tend to come to market as quickly as possible to maximize his career earnings. Even beyond that consideration, players often prefer not to have trades during the season. This points to the likelihood of Soto becoming a free agent shortly after the World Series, but it may not be a guarantee.
Speaking of which, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner recently had this to say on YES Network about extending the season during the season while Soto and his teammates are locked in a fight with the Orioles atop the American League East standings. Via Dave Campbell of the Associated Press:
“I think we’d like to see him here for the rest of his career. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. His agent, Scott, doesn’t usually do deals in the middle of the season. Neither do I. I think it could be a distraction, but as I said in spring training…this is a unique situation and a very unique player, so I wouldn’t be shocked if there were a conversation or two during a season.
Steinbrenner’s observations were relayed to Soto, and he gave what might qualify as a surprising response. Campbell writes:
Asked about Steinbrenner’s comments Thursday after the Yankees completed a sweep of the Minnesota Twins, Soto said his “door has always been open” to reaching a new deal before the fall, but emphasized that he is simply trying to prioritize playing. well and fit.
“They know the phone number and everything. They know where to call. For me, here, I’m focusing on playing baseball. My goal is to try to help the team win,” Soto said.
The Yankees have effectively unlimited resources, meaning they can fulfill any request Soto makes. Even if he reaches free agency, the Yankees could still be considered the favorites to keep him long-term. That’s how, of course, they re-signed franchise slugger Aaron Judge last offseason.
Soto enters the Yankees’ weekend home series against the lowly White Sox with a current slash line of .302 AVG/.403 OBP/.517 with nine home runs in 45 games and more walks than strikeouts. For his career, he has an OPS+ of 157 in parts of seven MLB seasons. Among active players, only Mike Trout (173) and Judge (164) have higher OPS+ values.
