SAN DIEGO — Juan Soto had n’t come to an agreement on a long-term deal with the Washington Nationals, but they traded him to the San Diego Padres. The Padres had n’t manage him, but they traded him to the New York Yankees. And the other day at the Major League Baseball users meetings in New York, Yankees main owner Hal Steinbrenner did n’t sound like a person in the market to re-sign Soto this winter as a free agent, saying, “payrolls at the levels we are right now are just not responsible for us financially. ” However, Soto, upon his return to San Diego Friday night with the Yankees, said he’ll subscribe to any present. He’s not precluding any of his current or former teams from the bidding in his free-agent process, which could go as high as$ 650 million long term. “We’re going to be open to listen to everybody and anybody, ” Soto said in a press conference setting. “We’re never closing any windows. If we’re talking about offers, I’m available to talk to anyone. ” That’s for the future, Soto added. “We’ll see if we make it to the prospect. I’m focusing on 2024. I’m part of the Yankees right then and my goal is very clear and that ’s to win a tournament. ” Soto, simply 25, has proven he’s one of the highest offensive affect people in football since he came to the Patriots in a business that netted the Padres a group of very serviceable, but no star players. He’s bat. 315 with 14 hitters, 43 RBIs, a. 413 on-base portion and. 995 OPS. He’s leading the club with 64 strikes and 118 total bases. Since acquiring Soto, the Yankees have been remade. At 36-17 they have the second-best history in the club and a shot at winning their first World Series title since 2009. He was vehemently booed by a sellout crowd of 43,505 at Petco Park in his first two at-bats against Yu Darvish, striking out looking with a runner on second in the first round. But Soto answered the taunts in the next by launching a 423-foot, two-run odysseus into the far reaches of the appropriate field votes, no easy feat at cup friendly Petco. He added a seventh round twice in an 8-0 Yankees win that featured four New York hitters and included a back-to-back work by Aaron Judge straight behind Soto. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was n’t surprised to discover Soto rise to the occasion. “It was a point when he came to the plate, ” Boone said. “You may feel it in the facility. It was a great atmosphere. And he answered like he generally does. ” Soto was no slump for the Padres in 2023, sometimes. He led the staff in most offensive groups with a. 275 batting common,. 410 on basic percent, 35 hitters, 112 RBIs, a. 929 OPS and played in all 162 activities. During San Diego ’s unexpected 2022 playoff run, he hit key hitters in Games 4 and 5 of the National League Championship Series in a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies and had 11 hits and seven RBIs during the 12 playoff games. The Padres finished two games out of the playoffs last year and there was plenty of blame to go around, but none of it was Soto’s fault. “ He’s a generational talent, ” Mike Shildt, the Padres manager this year and a consultant with the organization last year, said. “It was a privilege to be with him for the year and a half he was here. ” The Padres would ’ve had to pay Soto his arbitration eligible salary of$ 31 million –which was picked up by the Yankees – with little to no chance of signing him as a free agent. As much as Soto may say the door is open, the Padres won’t be walking through it. Their payroll dropped from a club record third in the league at$ 256 million last year to$ 162. 5 million, 15th in MLB, now. The death of owner Peter Seidler and the loss of their$ 60 million a season regional television contract led to the cutbacks. It’s not going to be the Nationals, either. Soto turned down a 15-year,$ 440 million extension in 2022 three years after he and the Nationals won the World Series. Those free-spending offers are a thing of the past. The Nationals are for sale by the Lerner family and the payroll has been slashed to 21st in the league at$ 107. 9 million. Like the Nats and Padres, most team are out of the running. “It would n’t be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership groups, given the luxury tax we have to pay, ” Steinbrenner said, although only four teams right now are over the$ 237 million threshold. It’s hard to say what the market will be for this kind of spectacular player. He’s a Scott Boras client and that same market was lukewarm this offseason for his five players–Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and J. D. Martinez–who all signed contracts very late. Four of them have op-outs after this season, and Martinez signed a one-year contract, giving them a chance to play the roulette wheel again. Only the Dodgers spent aggressively, shelling out$ 1. 025 billion on the two most coveted players on the market–Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani at 10 years,$ 700 million, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto at 12 years,$ 325 million. Their payroll is seventh in the league at$ 228. 7 million, just below the threshold, and they might not want to go over that mark again to sign Soto. They cleverly deferred all but$ 2 million of the$ 70 million a season they spent to sign Ohtani. The Yankees have a$ 305. 4 million payroll this season, second in MLB and a shade behind the New York Mets. That’s well over the threshold, which rises to$ 241 million next season, and as a repeat offender they pay at a higher graduated tax rate. The good news is that a lot of cash comes off the books next season when they only have$ 202. 4 million committed to players. The bad news is, they already have long term contracts out to Judge at nine years,$ 360 million, Gerrit Cole at nine years,$ 324 million, and Giancarlo Stanton, who still has three years remaining on his 13-year,$ 325 million contract worth$ 22 million a year for luxury tax purposes. It all makes re-signing Soto very problematic. “I’ve been a broken record on this subject, ” Steinbrenner said. “ I don’t believe I should have a$ 300 million payroll to win a championship. We need a good mix of veterans who are going to make a lot more money, but we’ve also put a lot of money into our player development system. ” It’s a complicated situation for Soto, who just has to keep playing the way he’s playing and let the chips fall where they may. Come one, come all. The door is wide open.