thelesterlee
Today, reports are suggesting that Juan Soto contract talks have exceeded the $600 million range as the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers and Blue Jays continue to fight over the 26-year-old 4-time MLB All-Star.
But Soto has yet to make his decision.
Here’s what his agent Scott Boras, because of course his agent is Scott Boras, said about the current stage of negotiations:
“When you go through these things, you just have a lot of information to meld through. We’ve had meetings with a number of franchises. He’s begun the process of eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll see. I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.”
As a Yankees fan, I am officially out on Juan Soto coming back to The Bronx.
The New York Yankees are the flagship organization in baseball—nay—all of sports.
When you think of sports, the first things that come to mind are pinstriped unis or the NYY ball cap.
27 championships, more than any other Major League Baseball franchise.
Continued dominance year after year after year after year.
Star factories responsible for producing guys like Joe DiMaggio or Yogi Berra or Mickey Mantle or Don Mattingly or Derek Jeter or Tanyon Sturtze, cultural icons are birthed in that clubhouse.
Legends.
The definition of class like when Jason Giambi issued that apology for taking steroids.
Or when Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens and Andy Petite all apologized for using steroids too, sort of, all in their own unique ways.
Juan Soto should be begging the Yankees for a roster spot—not the other way around.
Soto and Scott Boras should be in the Yankees front office right now going through 600 million reasons why he is worth bringing back into the most prestigious institution in sports.
The New York Yankees should pull their offer and not degrade themselves any further with a bidding war that is beneath them.
(Also maybe get Trent Grisham on whatever shit Alex Rodriguez was taking.)
Where will Juan Soto sign?
Now that I am no longer personally attached to the outcome of this event—no longer emotionally invested in a decision entirely out of my control—I am ready to talk ball.
Outside of the Yankees, the only real difference-making location is Los Angeles. And I don’t mean location as in New York and LA are better cities. I should just backspace “location” and choose a different word but I’m already explaining myself. Whatever.
I think, unlike Toronto or Queens, Juan Soto could genuinely change MLB history if he joined up with the LA Dodgers.
In Toronto, he’s just a super-rich guy who has some decent seasons before being traded somewhere that can afford him 5 years from now.
For the Mets, he’s just Yoenis Cespedes again.
Not saying Soto will become addicted to spending money and miss a season because he fell in a hole but I would think signing with the Mets indicates an unseriousness and disinterest in winning over playing in a pile of generational wealth you or your family has never seen before.
Like, I would totally understand signing with the Mets and just enjoying being rich and maaaaaybe playing some baseball, sometimes. That’s my dream.
But if Juan Soto signs with Los Angeles with $600 million deferred—just one year after they signed Shohei Ohtani for $700 million to be paid some vague time in the future—then Major League Baseball would have to completely revamp free agency.
Perhaps more worthy of Rob Manfred’s time than a “Golden At-Bat” rule no one asked for.
The Los Angeles Dodgers can’t just have the 25 best baseball players in the world on their team—all to be paid sometime in the 2040s.
You reallyyyyy shouldn’t be able to write I.O.U.’s to superstars.
Having said all that, I am currently tucking away anything expensive lying around the apartment that I don’t want destroyed when I inevitably crash out after reading that Juan Soto signed with the Boston Red Sox.
If there are no new Deadseriousness articles it’s because Jeff Passan made me smash my laptop.
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