New York Yankees icon and current YES Network analyst David Cone understands why All-Star outfielder Juan Soto wants to reach free agency after the World Series regardless of how much Soto is enjoying his time with the Yankees this season.
“You know, you’re so close to free agency,” Cone said about Soto during the latest edition of the “Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney” podcast, as shared by Jimmy Hascup of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. “Just speaking from experience, when I was in that position, you could smell the finish line. You don’t know until you know in free agency. …Get out there and you find out what other teams feel about you when you get those bids on the table and you see if you can get the market to move that way.”
Soto joined the Yankees after being traded from the San Diego Padres in December and has quickly left little doubt he could handle calling baseball’s biggest market home. Across his first 56 games with the first-place Yankees (37-19), Soto has batted .312 with 15 home runs, 46 RBI and a .989 OPS. As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the 25-year-old as the betting favorite at +225 odds to claim the American League Most Valuable Player Award for the season.
After Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner somewhat controversially said last week that the club’s payroll is “not sustainable” long-term, multiple noteworthy individuals suggested that Steinbrenner could lose a bidding war for Soto’s services to an owner willing to spend whatever it takes to land the slugger such as Steve Cohen of the New York Mets. On Tuesday, agent Scott Boras referred to Soto as someone who makes a franchise “worth billions more” because he will be “among the top 100 players to ever play this game.”
Cone said that Soto has “to find out” what’s available to him in free agency no matter what Steinbrenner has to stay in negotiations between now and late October. As much as the Yankees look like legitimate championship contenders heading into June, it’s clear that Soto’s uncertain future will continue to cast a cloud over the franchise through the summer.
Some believe Soto could sign a deal worth up to $550M total by next spring.