Throughout the offseason the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. This week we’re going to tackle Juan Soto’s eventual landing spot.
Where will Juan Soto sign? How much?
R.J. Anderson: I guess the Mets. We have a Steinbrenner heir versus a Steinbrenner proxy; I’m inclined to guess that Cohen is willing to clear the $600 million mark over a dozen (or whatever) years in order to get a deal done. Of course, I would warn against assuming it’s a fait accompli. Remember, the Yankees let Aaron Judge reach the open market before eventually coming to an agreement; historically, their top players reaching free agency doesn’t necessarily mean that a return is out of the question.
Dayn Perry: Yankees. I don’t feel certain about it by any means. However, if I have to make a prediction, I’m taking the incumbent team with limitless coffers that just made it to the World Series. The Yankees also have the strongest brand of any serious Soto contender. Again, the Mets will no doubt be heard from, but I’m leaning Yankees at this early juncture.
Matt Snyder: I’m about 99% sure Soto is staying in New York and it’s only a matter of the Yankees or Mets. I’ll go with the Mets. I think Mets ownership is more motivated to be the highest bidder and David Stearns will surely love to finally get to throw some money around after years in Milwaukee. The Mets have so much momentum right now. They’ve seen a decent number of contributors hit free agency while also retaining enough in-house talent to have the makings of a contender. It’s really the perfect time to go totally nuts for a franchise centerpiece like Soto.
Mike Axisa: I’m thinking the odds breakdown is 55% Yankees, 43% Mets, 2% everyone else. That might be too high for the Yankees — these are Hal Steinbrenner’s Yankees, not George’s — but they badly want to keep him and I think he genuinely enjoyed his time with the team. The Yankees can match any contract offer too. Money’s not going to be an issue even though Hal likes to pretend they can barely make ends meet. I don’t want to spoil Friday’s offseason bold predictions piece too much, but I expect Soto’s contract to start with a 7. These generational tippy-top-of-the-market free agents always get more than everyone expects.
