Yankees' "Aaron Judge's team" narrative could push Juan Soto toward Red Sox, says MLB analyst
Juan Soto and Aaron Judge have already helped the New York Yankees clinch a playoff berth, and they are now a game away from clinching the AL East division. Unfortunately for Yankees fans, one thing troubling is the future of Soto, who will be a free agent in a few months.
Even though rumors persist of the Yankees retaining Soto, MLB analysts on the "Underdog MLB with Jared Carrabis" podcast see the Red Sox as a possible destination for the Dominican.
According to top MLB insider Jeff Pasan, the Red Sox is one of the teams with the money to finance a Juan Soto deal. With the potential deal projected at over $500 million, MLB insider Jared Carrabis is not confident that the Red Sox will spend such a huge amount.
However, co-host and MLB analyst Tyler Milliken saw a pathway for Soto to leave the Yankees for their fiercest rivals.
"I think with [Juan] Sotto, there's the attractive conversation of, and he's handled it really well, but the Yankees are Aaron Judge's team...
"But when you know the next 10 or 15 years of your career you're going to be somewhere, and this is more likely than not where your legacy is going to be etched, does it mean something to be that guy? If he came here to Boston [Red Sox], he would be that guy." [38:53]
Milliken is not too confident about the deal happening, but if it does, he foresees Soto replacing Rafael Devers, who is having a phenomenal season for the Red Sox.
"It's no disrespect to Rafael Devers, but you know Soto is in a different stratosphere than where Rafael Devers is. But to come to Fenway, another storied organization, and become the face of that for over a decade and possibly win championships. That has to be a dream come true," Milliken said. [39:13]
Judge and Soto seem very close and the Yankees captain was recently at the center of a recent controversy involving Devers, Gerrit Cole, and Alex Cora. Therefore, a potential Red Sox move for Juan Soto will create a compelling storyline for the 2025 MLB season.
MLB analyst sees potential Red Sox interest in Juan Soto
On the "Underdog MLB with Jared Carrabis," Coley Mick, Steve Perrault, Tyler Milliken, and Carrabis assessed the current situation of the Red Sox fanbase. They felt the team's older fans would be interested in signing Soto while the younger fanbase doesn't entertain that idea.
Nonetheless, Coley Mick felt the Red Sox management might be interested in signing Soto despite a huge price tag.
"A GM can't offer $600 million without that blessing from ownership. If you remember some of [Chaim Bloom's] final quotes as GM of the, or whatever the title is, of the Boston Red Sox, they asked him about these long-term deals, and he specifically said, 'You know, these 30-year-olds getting 15-year deals is insane to me. But if a guy was 25 or 26, I think that makes a lot more sense.'
"He was only talking about Juan Soto. That's the only guy who fit that," said Mick. [38:22]
The Red Sox fired Bloom in 2023 and he is now with the St. Louis Cardinals. Nonetheless, as somebody who had to watch top players like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts leave the team, Bloom might've been keen on signing Juan Soto before the Red Sox fired him.