Yankees pull out all the stops they didn’t use for Aaron Judge to re-sign Juan Soto
By Quinn Everts
The Juan Soto sweepstakes are... heating up? Maybe? It seems like we're getting news on Soto every day but it's impossible to tell how close the superstar is to actaully signing with a team. Soto's former team, the New York Yankees, still appear to have a leg up on the rest of the league for his services, but anything can happen in the next few weeks. The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers are still squarely in the mix for Soto, and some other teams like the Blue Jays seem to think they have a shot.
Because anything can happen, the Yankees are doing everything in their power to make sure Soto's eyes remain on the prize they can offer him — well, if you consider playing for the Yankees and living in New York with a $60 million salary a prize, anyway. And I do, to be honest.
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Yankees manager Aaron Boone and owner Hal Steinbrenner are reportedly heading to the West Coast to meet with Juan Soto and his agent Scott Boras in California. Of course, the Yankees brass would prefer to leave with a contract signed, but it feels like we're still in the early days of the Soto sweepstakes.
The New York Yankees are all in on Juan Soto
Last year, the New York Yankees almost lost Aaron Judge. The San Francisco Giants offered Judge a contract and the Yankees weren't sure if the slugger was going to return to the Bronx.
The Yankees re-signed Aaron Judge thanks in part to a phone call, but things got a little too close for comfort. Maybe that's why Boone and Steinbrenner are headed to California this year; they don't want Soto's situation to replicate Judge's. They don't want this superstar to nearly slip away.
Who knows if this will work — maybe Soto won't be moved by his former bosses flying across the country to see him. When you phrase it like that, it's kind of a nightmare, right? Jokes aside, maybe Soto will see this as the Yankees caring about retaining him. Maybe this will help sway him in the Yanks direction. A check for about $650 million wouldn't hurt, either.