With Juan Soto in the portfolio, the New York Yankees are a different group. They won five straight games before falling to the Diamondbacks 7-0 on Tuesday evening, with Soto playing a major role. How long did he continue to reside in New York?
Soto’s a Yankee for the short term, playing on a one- time, arbitration- ready agreement worthwhile$ 31 million. Free organization is pending, and the selling for the 25- year- ancient outfielder is expected to be as powerful as this previous offseason’s sweepstakes for Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 years and$ 700 million, with most of the money deferred.
Soto continued to say that he enjoys wearing No. for the moment at Chase Field on Monday. 22 for the Patriots.

” It’s a wonderful business”, he said. ” The guys are making me feel like it’s house”.
His agent, Scott Boras, has long had a lingering doubt about the possibility of signing Soto for large, big bucks, despite having more than a little difficulty signing five big-name free agents this month.
Soto was almost immediately traded to the San Diego Padres after declining a$ 40 million contract extension from the Washington Nationals before the 2022 business deadline. Boras and his clientele believed in him, clearly making the field the pitcher’s fate.
Asked what his extended- name strategy is, Soto demurred.
” Right now, I’m playing baseball”, Soto said. ” I’m focusing on 2024. I’m no focusing on anything else. You may visit Scott if you want to inquire about it with someone. He did answer all those issues”.
Also, sometimes no. This spring, Boras will also have New York Mets first infielder Pete Alonso on the market, and he is aware that there is still a time of probable success or failure for those celebrities and their individual big-market groups.
Nevertheless, the New York Post noted that while Boras has negotiated 26 player contracts worth more than$ 125 million —none of them among the Boras Five this year—only three were extensions before that player hit free agency. The most recent was Jose Altuve’s seven- season,$ 163.5 million offer to keep the rest of his career in Houston.
Boras said in the spring that his job is to examine each situation and listen to the player’s well-being. ” Often that’s staying with their team, and maybe that’s going to a new staff, and I had never, ever measure that until you’re in that position”.
Soto, though, is the goods, having already won a World Series ring with the Nationals in 2019. And he certainly comprehends the value of mentioning World Series title No. 28 with the Yankees, who have n’t won it all since 2009. The win in Washington was a first for the Expos/Nationals franchise. Soto with the Padres made it to the 2022 National League Championship Series, but he lost by two games last year in San Diego to make the playoffs.
He was traded to the Yanks this offseason, the biggest move the team made this year. The Padres, in downsizing mode after the death of owner Peter Seidler, could n’t afford Soto even for the short term.

Still, Soto said he was surprised to be traded.
” You never expect that”, he said. However, it is now simpler than it was for the first time. It’s always tough, but I’d already learned that baseball is business. So, I knew how to handle it”.
On Friday, Soto will face the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. And he’ll be sure to notice Monument Park and all those retired numbers beyond the short right-field porch for a left-handed hitter. The Yankees have a history unlike any other baseball team.
” That’s pretty cool to be a part of that”, Soto said. ” It’s incredible, that history. In New York, there will be bigger crowds. It creates bigger expectations”.
When he and Boras are negotiating with the Yankees, they will encounter an incredible unmoving object. First of all, the club’s stance has always been to leave all contract extensions, free agent deals to the offseason under principal owner Hal Steinbrenner. Secondly, New York signed Aaron Judge to a nine- year,$ 360 million contract as a free agent two years ago, and they’re not likely to top that even for Soto.
For example, when the Yankees were negotiating with Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on a free- agent deal in the offseason, they were n’t about to exceed the nine- year,$ 324 million contract they gave Gerrit Cole before the 2020 season. The Yanks offers stopped at$ 300 million, Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers for 12 years and$ 325 million.
Judge, though, said Monday he’s already placed a very high value on Soto. Judge has an oversized impact on the Yankees ‘ situation and has Steinbrenner’s ear.
” He’s huge. He’s a game- changer”, Judge said about Soto. That’s one thing our lineup has been lacking, with a few solid lefties to balance it out.
Judge has now moved up to the third spot in the lineup, directly behind Soto. Two years ago, when he hit 62 homers to break Roger Maris ‘ Yankee and American League records, he batted leadoff. Last season, he mostly hit second.
With the Padres in 2023, Soto was on base 290 times with 156 hits, a league- leading 132 walks and he was hit by a pitch two times. He scored 97 times. If both players can maintain their health, that’s a lot of run-scoring opportunities for Judge.
” I love it, man”, Judge said. ” He works the count. He lets me see some pitches. It’s amazing to me”.
Last season the Yanks were one of Major League Baseball’s worst offensive teams, 25th in league with 673 runs scored. It’s early, but with Soto in the lineup they are 10th. And Judge has n’t even gotten started.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Soto’s impact already has been enormous.
” The world is talking about it”, he said with a chuckle. ” He’s just done a tremendous job immersing himself in our culture, in our room. The men have embraced him. He’s one of them”.
Yankee for a year or the long- term? Stay tuned.