Free agent outfielder Juan Soto has been listening to sales pitches from interested teams. He should be starting to field official contract offers this week. The two favorites to land him are the New York Yankees and New York Mets.
After spending one year in the Bronx and reaching the World Series with the Bombers, there's no way Soto would head across town to join the Yankees' National League rival, right? That is anybody's guess at this point, but not so much according to a recent report from USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
He said executives see the Mets as the "clear-cut favorite" to land the 26-year-old slugger for one reason.
"They don't believe there's a soul who will outbid owner Steve Cohen, while the Yankees have a price in mind that they don't want to exceed," Nightengale wrote.
Could money alone be the determining factor on where Soto plans to spend the next decade-plus of his big-league career? The financials are important, but there are other things the five-time Silver Slugger winner is looking for ahead of signing his next contract.
The Mets do check off a lot of the boxes, though. They play in a big media market, have the money to spend and an owner interested in building relationships with his star players. It doesn't hurt that the Mets were also two wins away from reaching the 2024 World Series.
Josh Goldberg of The Score thinks the Mets can convince Soto to ditch the Yankee pinstripes and call Queens home for a 13-year, $600 million contract.
"The Yankees can outspend anyone if Hal Steinbrenner is determined to keep the player. However, the owner doesn't quite have the same attitude when it comes to spending money as his late father, George," he wrote. "Mets owner Steve Cohen has no such qualms, routinely dipping well into the luxury tax. Soto represents a massive opportunity for the Mets to strike a blow against their city rivals while adding a generational offensive talent."
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