"$30,000,000 with a snap of the finger" - Pirates insider hypothesizes Juan Soto drawing massive profit for Pittsburgh like an ex-Scott Boras client
Even though Juan Soto is open to accepting an offer from any team, only a few teams have the resources to finance the deal. After all, Soto's next contract is expected to rival Shohei Ohtani's.
Pittsburgh sports insider Dejan Kovacevic knows the Pirates have little to no chance of landing the Dominican superstar. They also don't have a strong enough team to influence Juan Soto's decision-making..
However, Kovacevic hypothesized what could happen to the Pirates if the 2019 World Series champion landed in Pittsburgh. The veteran insider spoke about it on Friday's episode of his show, "DK's Daily Shot of Pirates."
"So, [Juan] Soto comes, and the public goes totally nuts," said Kovacevic. [1:45]. "Just wow, this is just a whole new outlook for the Pirates and the management, and even, you know, Bob Nutting and the people who own them. We just can't believe this happened."
"They're taking Paul Skenes seriously, and Jared Jones and Mitch Keller, and now with Soto coming here, everybody's going to want to come to the Pirates," Kovacevic added.
The insider finds the scenario similar to when the Padres, who have a similar market to Pittsburgh, signed Soto. With him in the team, the insider expects the Pirates to hike the prices, eventually giving them $30,000,000 in revenue.
"So, the average ticket price goes up to $30," said Kovacevic [3:40]. "Multiply that by 20,000, and the 20,000 that I'm counting is all the rest of the seats at PNC Park, not to mention suites and sponsorships and everything else."
"Okay, then multiply that by the number 41, which is obviously the number of home games. The number that lands on my calculator here is $24.6 million," Kovacevic added.
In addition to the ticket prices, the insider believes sponsors will be available in a plethora due to the presence of Soto. As such, he felt $30 million in revenue was realistic.
"Which major sponsor wouldn't want to have a huge presence inside the ballpark? So, you can get that figure up to $30 million with the snap of a finger," Kovacevic said [4:39].
Interestingly, Kovacevic hypothesized this idea due to his knowledge of the impact of Pedro Álvarez, a former client of Juan Soto's agent Scott Boras, on the Pirates.
Kovacevic shared the story of Boras telling him that any team should be signing Alvarez without a thought. This was when Boras and the Pirates were in a tense battle over Alvarez's deal.
In the end, Alvarez played six years for the Pirates from 2010 to 2015. Incidentally, 2013 to 2015 were the most profitable years of Bub Nutting's tenure as owner of the Pirates.
MLB analyst doesn't think Juan Soto will do a deal like Shohei Ohtani
$68,000,000 of Shohei Ohtani's annual salary of $70,000,000 is deferred. Therefore, the adjusted value of Ohtani's $700 million/10-year contract is below $500 million.
Even though Juan Soto getting a $700 million contract is difficult, a contract somewhere between $450 to $500 million is something many believe is attainable for Soto.
MLB analyst Eduardo Perez has high hopes for Soto. Even though he doesn't know the amount the Dominican will get, Perez knows one thing for sure, Soto's contract won't have any deferrals like Ohtani's.
Scott Boras, Juan Soto's agent, was highly critical of Ohtani for signing a contract like that. Perez thus claimed the super agent wouldn't entertain any offer from any MLB team with a deferral attached to it.