"No chance" - Mystery AL executive dampens Yankees' mid-season Juan Soto extension hopes, brutal assessment hints at All-Star entering free agency
Juan Soto's performance for the New York Yankees has been so impressive that it has convinced owner Hal Steinbrenner to rethink how business is done. He recently admitted to being open to negotiating in-season to prevent a foray into free agency, but one mystery executive believes it's just talk.
Several factors are working against the Yankees getting Soto's contract extension during the season. For one thing, Soto's agent Scott Boras almost never lets his guys sign extensions like that. It removes a potential bidding war, and his goal is to get his clients the most money.
This is what the executive said via RealGM:
"There's no chance," the executive said. "I think he ultimately signs back with the Yankees, but Scott [Boras] takes his guys into free agency."
The other thing working against the Yankees is Soto's own decision-making. He's been excellent so far, and he has four full months to play even better and potentially drive the price up. Soto has scored 35 runs and 11 home runs so far this season. He may not want to cap his earnings by signing before he gets truly going.
The Yankees are eager to acquire Juan Soto
The Yankees never negotiate in-season. They didn't even do it for Aaron Judge. He was a free agent and they'd talked in the offseason but couldn't agree on a deal, so Judge went into what ended up being his MVP season without a contract.
To think they'd be willing to do it for Juan Soto speaks volumes about how important he has been so far. While Judge struggled, Soto carried the offense. Now, they're the one-two punch they dreamed of.
The Yankees do things traditionally and they rarely break for anything. If they were to even try re-signing Soto mid-season, it would be a rarity. If they accomplished it, it would be impressive given all the factors working against that.
Juan Soto is likely to return to New York and the team clearly values the outfielder a lot. He's young and extremely talented and the Yankees won't let him go. They will just have to fight for it and spend a lot of money to get it done.