Juan Soto Keeping Options Open
Let the Juan Soto speculation begin.
It didn’t take long for reporters to ask the sport’s premier free agent whether he expects the Mets to try to persuade him to make a crosstown move.
“I mean, I don’t know what’s the teams that wanna come after me,” he said after the Yankees’ season ended with a loss in Game 5 of the World Series. “But definitely I’ll be open to this and every single team. I don’t have any doors closed or anything like that. So I’m gonna be available to all 30 teams.”
Do the Yankees have an edge? Apparently not.
“I feel like every team has the same opportunities when I’m going to the free agency,” he told reporters. “I don’t want to say anybody has any advantage because at the end of the day we’re gonna look at what they have and how much they want me.”
The Athletic predicted a 15-year, $622 million contract for the 26-year-old, four-time All-Star outfielder.
Aaron Judge was asked if he thought Soto enjoyed his time in the Bronx.
“You know you hope so, you know you hope so,” Judge said. “He brought us a lot of joy. I think we brought him a lot of joy as well. Like I said, we were lucky to have him for this year.”
Soto said his teammates “wished me the best of luck and make sure I do the best for me and my family. These guys, very special, and I’m really happy to play with them and really excited what’s going to be.”
He laughed when asked if the fans chanting his name at Yankee Stadium during Game 5 would encourage his decision.
“Probably impact the decision of the ownership,” he quipped. “We will see, we will see how it goes. So definitely real excited and really thankful for these fans. They’ve been incredible all year long.”