The Yankees aren’t going down without a fight.
Yanks owner Hal Steinbrenner is expected to fly out to Southern California in about a week and a half to meet with superstar free agent Juan Soto and his agent Scott Boras, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
This, of course, comes just a day after Mike Puma of the Post reported that Mets owner Steve Cohen will be traveling across the country next week to make his pitch to try to bring Soto to the other side of town.
This certainly doesn’t come as a surprise as Boras told reporters at the GM Meetings that Soto would be meeting with numerous owners over the next few weeks and he’ll be going through a “thorough” vetting process before making a decision on where to sign.
The crosstown rivals are two of at least seven known teams (Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants) who have expressed interest in Soto, with there reportedly being four other “mystery teams” in the mix as well.
There’s a chance that one of those clubs is his former team, the Washington Nationals, as president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo reportedly told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers that he’s spoken with Boras about the highly-touted left-handed slugger.
SNY’s Andy Martino reported earlier this week that the Bombers “loved having Soto this year, and are obviously launching a massive push to retain him,” though his misdirection on questions about his future has left some in the organization guessing.
The 26-year-old superstar will all but certainly end up signing the largest position player deal in baseball history, with projections putting his next contract somewhere in the 12-13 year range and around the $600 million range (pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers on a 10-year, $700 million contract last offseason).
It’s hard to imagine Soto having a better walk year than the one he just had with the Yankees, when he slashed .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 home runs and 109 RBI, helping lead them to their first World Series appearance since 2009.
