NEW YORK — On Tuesday, the two billionaires at the center of Major League Baseball’s biggest offseason free-agent chase stood across from each other at a dinner marking the first night of the owners’ meetings in Manhattan. But New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and Steve Cohen, his New York Mets rival, didn’t quite argue over who should get to drop a bag of cash in front of star slugger Juan Soto. Instead, much of the conversation between the longtime acquaintances centered around the Yankees’ loss in the World Series, and how much it still “stings” for Steinbrenner.
“That was about it,” Steinbrenner said.
Yet the specter of Cohen — baseball’s richest owner — possibly swooping in and swiping Soto from the Yankees was the biggest topic of conversation when Steinbrenner spoke with reporters for approximately 15 minutes in the lobby of MLB headquarters Wednesday afternoon.
If Soto doesn’t re-sign with the Yankees, will it hurt even more if he opts for a crosstown move and the Mets’ big bucks?
“If it doesn’t work out,” Steinbrenner said, “it’s going to hurt a little bit no matter where he goes.”
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner meeting with reporters at the MLB Owners Meetings today. Juan Soto, expectedly, was the hot topic of conversation. pic.twitter.com/24wynEMJ42
— Brendan Kuty 🧟♂️ (@BrendanKutyNJ) November 20, 2024
The Athletic’s Tim Britton projected that Soto, 26, could command a deal worth $611 million over 13 years, which would be the biggest average annual value in the history of the game. There has been speculation that Soto could look, in some way, to top the heavily deferred 10-year, $700-million deal the Los Angeles Dodgers gave Shohei Ohtani last year.
But the youngest son of late owner George Steinbrenner said he understood his mission. He knows that losing Soto would be a disaster to a fan base starving for its first World Series title since 2009. He knows that while Cohen may be the wealthiest man in baseball, the Yankees make the most money.
“I’ve got ears,” Steinbrenner said. “I know what’s expected of me. It’s been a priority.”
The Soto sweepstakes kicked into high gear last week with representatives from the Mets, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays each flying to meet with Soto and his agent, Scott Boras, near Boras’ headquarters in Newport Beach, Calif. The Dodgers also met with Soto and the Philadelphia Phillies were expected to.
On Monday, the Yankees joined the race. During the meeting, Steinbrenner was flanked by general manager Brian Cashman, team president Randy Levine, special assistant Omar Minaya and manager Aaron Boone.
The group met with Soto for “a couple of hours,” Steinbrenner said. It’s unclear how much pomp and circumstance the Yankees included in a presentation to a player they already know well. Soto just finished the best season of his seven-year career with the Yankees. After the club traded for him last winter, he proved more than equipped to be able to play in New York, setting career-highs in home runs (41) and runs scored (128) while batting ahead of fellow star Aaron Judge.
The sides had a “very honest back-and-forth dialogue” that Steinbrenner called “a good meeting.” He said that Soto, in particular, quizzed the Yankees on their player development system and upcoming prospects.
The Yankees, however, didn’t leave the meeting with any particular picture of which way Soto was leaning. Steinbrenner declined to say whether contract size was discussed.
“No idea,” Steinbrenner said. “We’ll be in the mix.”
And Cohen will be threatening.
The Mets had a surprising 2024, starting the season slow before reaching the National League Championship Series. Cohen, estimated by Forbes to be worth $21.3 billion, will be motivated to give his club more firepower. And Soto is a rare type of free agent, combining youth with top-of-the-line offensive ability.
Yankees fans worry that Cohen could write Soto a blank check.
“I would say that about a couple other owners, too, or corporations for that matter that represent ownership groups,’ Steinbrenner said. “Of course, it’s a concern.”
But it’s unclear whether Soto will simply go to the highest bidder, like many Boras clients, or if he’ll value other things. Soto, a Dominican Republic native, reportedly would prefer to play on the East Coast. Plus, he’s coming off a trip to the World Series with the Yankees, a team about which he spoke glowingly during the regular season.
“He’s been here, and he had a good year,” Steinbrenner said. “He did great dealing with you guys. He did great dealing with the fans. He did great with the other players. His experience here was positive, there’s no doubt about that. How much that factors in, I can’t answer that.”
Payroll limits?
In May, Steinbrenner declared that the 2024 payroll was unsustainable. This year marked the first time in franchise history that the Yankees surpassed $300 million. After factoring in the luxury tax penalty, the team’s total payroll for this season will approach $375 million.
The estimated payroll for 2025 currently stands at $238.8 million, according to Cot’s Contracts. While the Yankees are in a stronger starting position compared to last year’s offseason, a significant portion of their budget is earmarked for Soto. Steinbrenner reiterated the “unsustainable” sentiment, stating that this year’s payroll would be impossible to maintain for most — if not all — other team owners. However, he did indicate that he would remain open to any proposal Cashman brings forward, but he stopped short of offering up any number that he has in mind for the budget.
“We’ve got the ability to sign any player that we would like to sign,” Steinbrenner said.
Extension for Aaron Boone?
The Yankees exercised manager Aaron Boone’s club option for 2025 nearly two weeks ago. When Boone spoke to the media shortly after the announcement, he revealed that he had not yet discussed a long-term extension. Steinbrenner said that those talks will likely happen once the team’s offseason plans are more settled.
“I don’t know if there’s a huge rush to it,” he said, “but I will have those discussions on what to do next.”
Steinbrenner and the Yankees’ front office have not indicated over the past several years that they desire to make a managerial change. It would be a surprise if Boone does not enter the 2025 season with a new contract.
Gerrit Cole’s opt-out saga
The first major problem the Yankees addressed this offseason was Gerrit Cole’s decision to opt out of his contract.
After discussions, both Cole and the Yankees agreed to maintain the terms of his current deal without adding a fifth year and an additional $36 million. Steinbrenner explained that “a number of factors” made him uncomfortable with the idea of extending Cole for a fifth year, which would have kept him under contract through his age-38 season.
With only 48 hours to decide on Cole’s opt-out, Steinbrenner stated that the limited timeframe was not enough to properly consider the addition of a fifth year.
“But let me just say that doesn’t reflect in any way, shape or form what we think of Gerrit,” Steinbrenner said. “We want Gerrit to be a Yankee for life. I think he’s someone who wants to be a Yankee for life. Adding one more year or not adding one more year should have no meaning when it comes to that.”
Unfair criticism?
Finally, Steinbrenner addressed the World Series loss to the Dodgers, admitting that, weeks later, it still stings. He believes that falling so close to the club’s first championship since 2009 will weigh on them throughout the rest of the offseason.
One narrative he pushed back against was the team’s perceived lack of fundamentals. Since the Yankees’ disastrous fifth inning of Game 5, Dodgers players, fans, and baseball media have criticized them for sloppy play. While the Yankees were the worst baserunning team during the regular season, they actually were rated above average defensively, even ranking higher than the Dodgers in most advanced metrics.
“I do not agree with that,” Steinbrenner said of the criticism. “Listen, we did not play a clean World Series. I think we all know that. Those fundamentals got us to the World Series. Our play, for the most part, was solid during the course of the year. That’s why we won a pennant for the first time in 15 years. No doubt in the World Series — they just played better than us.”
(Top photo of Juan Soto: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
