Juan Soto Making an Immediate Impact With the Yankees
PHOENIX — The New York Yankees are a different team with Juan Soto in the lineup. They opened the season with five consecutive wins before falling to the Diamondbacks 7-0 on Tuesday night, with Soto playing a significant role. The question is, how long will he remain in New York?
Soto’s a Yankee for the short term, playing on a one-year, arbitration-eligible contract worth $31 million. Free agency is pending, and the bidding for the 25-year-old outfielder is expected to be as intense as this past offseason’s sweepstakes for Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 years and $700 million, with most of the money deferred.
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For now, Soto said Monday at Chase Field that he’s enjoying wearing No. 22 for the Yankees.
“It’s a great organization,” he said. “The guys are making me feel like it’s home.”
His agent, Scott Boras, who had more than a little trouble signing five big-name free agents this year, has long had a twinkle in his eyes about the prospects of signing Soto for big, big bucks.
Soto turned down a 15-year extension worth $440 million from the Washington Nationals near the trade deadline in 2022, prompting his almost immediate swap to the San Diego Padres. Boras and his client thought he was worth more, evidently setting the floor for the outfielder.
Asked what his long-term plan is, Soto demurred.
“Right now, I’m playing baseball,” Soto said. “I’m focusing on 2024. I’m not focusing on anything else. If you want to ask somebody about it, you can call Scott. He will answer all those questions.”
Well, maybe not. Boras will also have New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso on the market this winter, and he knows there’s still an entire season of potential success or failure for those stars and their respective big-market teams.
Nevertheless, the New York Post noted that while Boras has negotiated 26 player contracts worth more than $125 million—none of them among the Boras Five this year—only three were extensions before that player hit free agency. The most recent was Jose Altuve’s seven-year, $163.5 million deal to remain the rest of his career in Houston.
“My job is to look at each scenario and respond to the well-being of the player,” Boras said during the spring. “Sometimes that’s staying with their team, and sometimes that’s going to a new team, and I could never, ever gauge that until you’re in that situation.”
Soto, though, is the goods, having already won a World Series ring with the Nationals in 2019. And he certainly sees the value of adding World Series title No. 28 with the Yankees, who haven’t won it all since 2009. The win in Washington was a first for the Expos/Nationals franchise. With the Padres, Soto went as far as the 2022 National League Championship Series, but fell short of making the playoffs by two games last season in San Diego.
He was traded to the Yanks this offseason, the biggest move the team made this year. The Padres, in downsizing mode after the death of owner Peter Seidler, couldn’t afford Soto even for the short term.
Still, Soto said he was surprised to be traded.
“You never expect that,” he said. “But it was easier now than the first time. It’s always tough, but I’d already learned that baseball is business. So, I knew how to handle it.”
Soto will play his first home game Friday at Yankee Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays. And beyond the short right-field porch for a left-handed hitter, he’ll be sure to notice Monument Park and all those retired numbers. The Yankees have a history like no other ballclub.
“That’s pretty cool to be a part of that,” Soto said. “It’s incredible, that history. There will be bigger crowds in New York. It creates bigger expectations.”
He and Boras will meet an incredible unmoving object negotiating with the Yankees. First of all, the club’s stance under principal owner Hal Steinbrenner has been to leave all contract options, extensions and free agent deals to the offseason. Secondly, New York signed Aaron Judge to a nine-year, $360 million contract as a free agent two years ago, and they’re not likely to top that even for Soto.
For example, when the Yankees were negotiating with Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on a free-agent deal in the offseason, they weren’t about to exceed the nine-year, $324 million contract they gave Gerrit Cole before the 2020 season. The Yanks offers stopped at $300 million; Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers for 12 years and $325 million.
Judge, though, said Monday he’s already placed a very high value on Soto. Judge has an oversized impact on the Yankees’ situation and has Steinbrenner’s ear.
“He’s huge. He’s a game-changer,” Judge said about Soto. “That’s one thing our lineup has been missing—a couple of good lefties in there to balance it out.”
Judge has now settled in the third spot in the lineup directly behind Soto. Two years ago, when he hit 62 homers to break Roger Maris’ Yankee and American League records, he batted leadoff. Last season, he mostly hit second.
With the Padres in 2023, Soto was on base 290 times with 156 hits, a league-leading 132 walks and he was hit by a pitch two times. He scored 97 times. That’s a lot of run-scoring opportunities for Judge if both players can remain healthy.
“I love it, man,” Judge said. “He works the count. He lets me see some pitches. It’s amazing to me.”
Last season the Yanks were one of Major League Baseball’s worst offensive teams, 25th in league with 673 runs scored. It’s early, but with Soto in the lineup they are 10th. And Judge hasn’t even gotten started.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Soto’s impact already has been enormous.
“The world is talking about it,” he said with a chuckle. “He’s just done a tremendous job immersing himself in our culture, in our room. The guys have embraced him. He’s one of them.”
Yankee for a year or the long-term? Stay tuned.
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