Each MLB team’s most important offseason decision
By Nick Villano
New York Yankees - Juan Soto’s price tag
The conversation between the Yankees and the Mets are much different. The Mets are asked if they would be willing to go to $700 million to make this deal happen. The Yankees just aren’t going there. There is no chance that the new-age Steinbrenners are going to pay a player $70 million per season. They don’t want to get into the deferment nonsense that Los Angeles did with Ohtani, and they don’t want to spend their entire payroll on one guy when they are already paying Aaron Judge $40 million, Gerrit Cole $36 million, Giancarlo Stanton $32 million, and Carlos Rodon $27 million.
What’s the number the Yankees are willing to go to? We just named $135 million for four players. That is more than 13 teams going into last season. That’s also without paying Soto.
The Yankees have an issue where they have to pay a lot of people on this roster. Outside the four players above, the Yankees have just two other players set in the payroll (not including the options that will be accepted, like Luke Weaver): D.J. Lemahieu and Marcus Stroman. They aren’t exactly world beaters.
This team needs serious upgrades if they want to make it back to the World Series, and Soto might not be their end all be all. Yet, at the same time, this team is so much worse without Soto, who should remain this good for the next decade. How high is too high? We expect someone outside the Yankees to tell us. Soto’s free agency will come down to whether the Yankees match.