During a recent conversation with Bob Nightengale of USA Today, agent Scott Boras essentially scoffed at the fact that New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said last week that the club’s payroll is “not sustainable” as it pertains to possibly signing All-Star outfielder Juan Soto to a long-term contract.
Boras hinted while speaking with reporters on Tuesday that Soto’s camp won’t be giving the Yankees any kind of discount during potential in-season negotiations.
“When you represent players who I call ‘centurions’ where you can say that they will be among the top 100 players to ever play this game, when you represent them you don’t worry about the cost of them for a franchise because they increase the franchise value of the team,” Boras said about Soto, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “The only cost is what it costs to build the monument.”
Soto remains on track to reach free agency after the season and seems to increase the value of his next contract with each week.
As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Soto as the betting favorite at +225 odds to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award. That same outlet had the 37-19 Yankees second among the betting favorites at +550 odds to win the World Series.
Soto could receive a historic offer from big-spending New York Mets owner Steve Cohen this fall, and the 25-year-old said ahead of this past weekend that he is “open to deal with anybody.”
Earlier this week, Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay insisted that Steinbrenner is “not bluffing when he says $300M is an unsustainable payroll.”
Boras was sure to point out on Tuesday that “Juan is comfortable in a lot of places” and could thrive into his 30s away from the Yankees.
“I understand that any owner should be responsible and any owner should do good business, but when you have a chance to pursue a centurion, you’re only going to have that happen maybe, at best, if you own the team 40, 50 years, three or four times,” Boras added.
Boras also claimed that “a centurion on a team would thereby make the team worth billions more.”
In short, Steinbrenner had better be prepared to win a bidding war if he intends for Soto to be anything more than a one-season rental for the Yankees.
