The New York Yankees made headlines after landing Juan Soto in the last offseason. However, they could only land him for a year, as it seems at present. The former San Diego Padres outfielder is looking forward to being a free agent after the current season. Clearly, he will be the biggest name in the next free agency. MLB saw three straight years that had a clear number one free agent. At first, it was Aaron Judge in 2022. He won the American League MVP that year after breaking the regular season home run record.
His 62 home runs in 2022 made him the number one free agent. Later, the Yankees signed him for a nine-year deal worth $360 million. Then, they made him the new captain of the franchise. Later, in 2023, it was Sho-Time. The Japanese sensation was clearly the number-one free agent last year. But the kind of massive deal he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers has been unprecedented. Shohei’s hitting and pitching prowess earned him the record deal of $700 million for ten years. Now, in 2024, it’s time for Juan Soto.
Who’s Landing Juan Soto And For What Deal?
When a “Generational talent” like Juan Soto has an agent like Scott Boras, people don’t expect them to show any kind of mercy with a discount for teams willing to sign him. Even Boras said a few weeks ago that the Dominican superstar is a centurion. It means he is one of the top 100 players to have ever played the game. According to Boras, whenever a team signs a ‘Centurion’ like Soto, their franchise value increases like a billion dollars more. Hence, teams should not look for any discount. Moreover, the earlier projection of the estimated contract value of Juan Soto was around $500 million. Lately, 28 MLB insiders predicted the contract value that Soto can sign in the next free agency.
According to ESPN, 14 MLB insiders believe Soto’s future contract will be around $500-599 million over 12-14 years. Then, there are eight insiders who said it will be around $400-499 million over 10-13 years. Moreover, there are three insiders who believe it will be above $600 million over 14 years. However, there are even three other insiders who predicted under $400 million contract next offseason for Juan Soto over 8-10 years. At this point, the baseball insiders of ESPN find only two potential suitors to go as high as possible for Juan Soto – New York Clubs (Mets and Yankees). Other than the two NY sides, there are the Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays and the San Francisco Giants.
Other Comparable Free Agent Deals
Last year, Shohei Ohtani made history as he signed the biggest North American sports contract. The Los Angeles Dodgers got him for a 10 year deal worth $700 million. Then, the other big contract has been Mike Trout of Los Angeles Angels with a 12 year deal worth $426.5 million.
Ohtani and Trout’s deals are way ahead of the $300 million or above deals that Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Corey Seager and Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed. But back in 2022, Juan Soto had turned down a $440 million contract from his former team, the Washington Nationals. Perhaps the Dominican superstar is looking for something bigger with even better deferrals.
Stay tuned to Sports News International for more such updates about your favorite MLB team.
