Juan Soto

I badly want him back, too. Right now, I'd say it's 50/50. He clearly enjoyed his time here and bonded with the team. There's familiarity, and that's a plus. But, he seems like a guy that's gonna go to the highest purse and we're gonna have serious competition across town and maybe from a couple of other teams. 

In some of his interviews I've read, he's referred to his time here already in the past tense. May mean nothing, and I may be reading too much into syntax, but that bothered me a little.

My concern is that they sign him but then Hal sticks to his guns on overall payroll levels. Let's say Soto gets $50M/year for a luxury tax number. If you add that to Judge/Cole/Rodon/Stanton/Stroman/DJ then that's $208.5M in luxury tax payroll alone for both 2025 and 2026 on those 7 players alone. Add the minor league contracts and player benefits and that's another $20M year. For 2025, you can even add in $10M of dead money for Hicks and a $6M buyout for Rizzo. Basically, signing Soto puts us at the luxury tax line for each of the next two years without even factoring in any other players.

And what are getting? Obviously the dynamic duo of Judge/Stanton and an ace in Cole, but DJ is dead weight, Stanton is kind of washed in the regular season and it seems hard to believe he'll keep morphing into his prime each October, Rodon isn't a reliable #2 in his time here yet, and Stroman was out of the rotation by the playoffs.

How high is Hal willing to push payroll? Even with Soto back this team has holes to address. Their defense is poor. They lack lineup depth. The bullpen is depleted. The rotation has a depth of bodies but lacks playoff rotation caliber guys. The farm system doesn't have a ton of guys on the cusp either.

Hal has to be honest with himself about what he's willing to spend. It will look bad to let Soto go, but if he's not willing to spend a ton of money elsewhere even after keeping Soto, then he's better off letting him go. This team needs to improve, not regress around Soto. If they stretch themselves to their max to keep him then the roster will just keep deteriorating around him as they go cheap route everywhere that opens up.

Don't know this for a fact but just a feeling. I think part of the gamble the Yanks made was Soto would fall in love with NY and all things being even would opt to sign longterm but as I read some of his comments, I believe if he were offerred $5 more by the Mets he would leave.

WFAN’s Evan Roberts said that it take 15yrs/750M for any team who wants Soto.

Unless injury creeps in, the prime years for a player are age 28 to 32. Soto is still two years away from that window, and he is already Hall of Fame bound. Believe it or not, Soto will likely get better. And, he may be the DH for the last seven or eight years of his contract, but like Edgar Martinez, he will always be able to hit. It would be foolish to let Juan Soto go, especially to the one team in MLB who can afford it. And, if Ohtani can defer money, why not Soto? Soto is a smart guy, and he probably knows already what the Yankees need to sure up the team. Juan Soto is a hitting savant, and those do not come along too often. As fans, we will lament the end of Judge's contract much more than the end of Juan Soto's. Sign him.

soto's post-game comments about his free agency were rather "mercenary". he liked his time here but said nothing to indicate we had any inside track. guessing he's been well coached by boras and understandably, that's what he has to say. whatever the outcome, hope boras doesn't drag it out too long. because so much is riding on whether or not he signs and hate to see yankees stuck holding the bag.

This is what you get when you trade for rentals. I was surprised the Yankees did that. Now the Dodgers or Mets will get him without giving anything up but money! We lost some decent players with a future! I could be wrong, but I don't see Hal seriously in the hunt unless They can unload millions in salary! MLB hasn't put in all these stupid rules for nothing! MLB is in serious trouble with players salaries out of control! Soto is just another example! Next is the NFL!