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Juan Soto’s first season with the New York Yankees was almost everything they could have dreamed it might be.
He was brilliant (41 home runs, 237 combined runs and RBI), and so were they (94 wins, plus-147 run differential). While they fell just short of their ultimate goal, losing the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, this was one of the MLB’s most productive partnerships in recent memory.
“We were definitely lucky to have him here,” Aaron Judge told reporters.
The question, of course, now shifts to whether the Yankees can keep him.
Free agency awaits Soto, and it’s almost certain to end with one of the richest contracts this league has ever seen. He’s getting Monopoly money at this point—reaching or even surpassing the $500 million threshold feels possible—and while the Yankees could be on the signing end of his next contract, Soto isn’t ready to commit to anything.
He wants to play the market and see what exactly everyone has to offer.
“I’m really happy with the city, with the team, but at the end of the day we will see,” Soto said. “We’re going to look at every situation, every offer that we get. I don’t know what teams want to come after me, but definitely I’ll be open to listen to every single team. I don’t have any doors closed or anything like that, so we’re going to be available for all 30 teams.”
Granted, not all 30 teams can afford him, but several big spenders could give chase. While it’s way too early to tell how things will play out, it’s not at all too soon to suggest that an exit is possible.
That’s why the Yankees have been drafting up Plan B blueprints already. Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, they think they might be able to add “three to four stars” if they don’t re-sign Soto. The notable names being thrown around are definitely interesting.
New York could target bats and arms in a Soto-less offseason. Among the backup-plan possibilities, Heyman mentioned Pete Alonso (226 homers over the past six seasons), Anthony Santander (44 homers and 102 RBI this season), Alex Bregman (two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion), Corbin Burnes (four-time All-Star and former Cy Young) and Blake Snell (two-time Cy Young).
Add some combination of the above to what the Yankees have coming back—Judge, Gerrit Cole, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Volpe, Jasson Domínguez, Carlos Rodón—and this team could be terrific.
It still wouldn’t be the same as this season’s squad. As intriguing as this backup plan sounds, it’s the backup plan for a reason.
Soto is a star of the highest wattage. He is on a short list of the league’s best hitters, and he gives New York a cheat-code combo in the lineup hitting ahead of Judge. Soto is also just 26 years old, meaning that despite everything he has accomplished to this point—four All-Star nods, four Silver Slugger awards, three top-six finishes in MVP voting—it’s entirely possible his best baseball is still to come.
He looks like a generational talent from all angles, and it would be gutting to see that type of talent up close and then watch it slip away so soon.
“It would be great to keep playing with him because he’s definitely a special player,” Judge told reporters. “I think everybody in this room wants him back. … He just does a lot of the little things that people don’t notice that truly make him one of the best players, if not the best player in the game.”
Losing Soto wouldn’t sink this squad, but keeping him at almost any conceivable cost would be the best possible outcome for the pinstripes.
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