As The Yankees Collapse In World Series, Free Agency Battle For Juan Soto Begins

The New York Yankees’ 2024 season came to a screeching halt Wednesday night when the team blew a five-run lead and lost to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series. The loss will sting for some time, but executives in New York will not have long to lament. The free agency sweepstakes for slugging outfielder Juan Soto has just begun.

When the Yankees acquired Soto from the Padres in a trade last off-season, the team instantly became a World Series contender. Sure enough, despite glaring weaknesses up and down the roster, Soto paired perfectly with A.L. MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge and led the team deep into the postseason. A failure to finish the job, however, makes it all the more likely that Soto looks elsewhere with his contract expiring.

“I don’t know what the teams are that are going to come after me,” Soto said. “But definitely, I’ll be open to this and every single team. I don’t have any doors closed or anything like that. I’m gonna be available for all 30 teams.”

The Yankees aren’t exactly strapped for cash, ranking among the highest payrolls in baseball. In order to lock down Soto, however, the front office would likely have to make one of the largest contract offers in MLB history, perhaps even rivaling the $700 million deal the Dodgers made with Shohei Ohtani last offseason. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner indicated over the summer that the team intends to cut the payroll going forward.

“I’m gonna be honest, payrolls at the levels we’re at right now are simply not sustainable for us financially,” Steinbrenner said of the Yankees’ $309 million payroll in 2024, via the New York Post. “It wouldn’t be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership [groups], given the luxury tax we have to pay.”

This doesn’t mean that the Yankees won’t make a competitive offer to try and retain their outfielder, who hit .288 with 41 home runs in 2024. It simply means that there will be eager buyers out there, some of which will likely be able to outbid a constricted Yankees organization. The conversation must begin with the Mets and Dodgers.

The Yankees’ crosstown rivals in Queens have a laundry list of free agency questions to address already, namely star first baseman and postseason hero Pete Alonso. But with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer finally off the books, Mets owner Steve Cohen, a hedge fund billionaire, likely has more than enough bandwidth to go after Soto with nearly unrivaled funds. That wasn’t enough last off-season, however.

Before Cohen and new Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns successfully built their magical upstart NLCS team, they planned to be heavy spenders and failed. Most importantly, they missed out on star free agents Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who both landed with the Dodgers. 

Los Angeles is one of the few teams in the league that can match Cohen’s lucrative offers, and Soto has already headed out West for a lengthy stint in San Diego. The Dodgers’ existing contracts would rule out almost any team in baseball from pursuing Soto, but the ownership group and GM Brandon Gomes have cleverly structured many of its largest deals and reportedly still has money to spare. While Soto could become the new centerpiece of a resurgent Mets team, putting the generational talent in the same lineup with Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman would kickstart a potential Dodgers dynasty.

New York and Los Angeles will not be the only teams in touch with Soto this winter. The Phillies, Red Sox and Cubs will all reportedly come to the table with offers. Some rumors even suggest that the budgeting Nationals will try their best to bring their old prospect home. By the time, he signs the dotted line, every team will likely have some connection to the star. If Soto is to be believed, however, feelings won’t take precedence. The highest bidder is almost certain to seal the deal.