In the Juan Soto sweepstakes, the New York Mets have recently dominated. The team’s meeting with Soto — notable for being the only one held away from agent Scott Boras’ headquarters — appeared to go as well as it could have, and everyone in the league seems to feel that owner Steve Cohen has no intention of losing a bidding war to anyone. The Mets have a competitive roster, the familiarity of New York, and a bottomless Scrooge McDuck vault full of money, all of which combine to make them the odds-on favourite.
All of this has been essentially the worst-case situation for their cross-town rivals, the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers need Soto just as much as the Mets do, and as each subsequent story suggested that a move to Queens was unavoidable, Yankees fans grew increasingly concerned. After all of the positive emotions from last season, the league’s richest franchise was about to cheap out yet again, and on their younger brother no less.
However, it appears that tales of the Yankees’ doom may have been considerably overblown. The Yankees needed a massive swing to shift the tide, and owner Hal Steinbrenner appears to have delivered.
The Yankees allegedly increased their contract offer for Juan Soto.
While the bidding for Soto is still in its early stages, with teams submitting initial offers this week and negotiations ramping up ahead of the Winter Meetings in early December, the Yankees appear to be wasting no time in expressing their desire to re-sign their All-Star outfielder. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that New York had already “upgraded its initial offer within the past couple of days.”
“The current Yankees are making apparent their resolve to attempt to retain their top target,” Heyman writes, “but they also understand that the closely monitored rivalry is only in its middle innings. The situation remains uncertain, and any of four or more additional interested teams can yet receive the winter’s prize.”
Heyman also stated that Cashman has taken introductory talks with Max Fried and Corbin Burnes, as the organization seeks an upgrade to its rotation to pair alongside Gerrit Cole. It’s unclear whether that’s just a backup plan in case Soto leaves, or whether Steinbrenner is now willing to go all in to win the team’s first World Series trophy since 2009. But the sudden attitude appears to be making an impact on Soto, implying that New York may be willing to match the Mets dollar for dollar if the bidding reaches $700 million.
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