Juan Soto is the almost perfect Yankee, talented and tough, not to mention 25. He’s getting on base at an astonishing rate, hitting tape-measure homers and at times carrying the marquee club.
Soto does and says everything right, and he usually says it with a smile. He’s obviously having fun here, unless he’s as good an actor as hitter.
He especially loves the Bleacher Creatures’ roll call. (I didn’t have to ask, but for the record, I did anyway, and he confirmed. Loves it!)
It’s all good so far.
There’s just that one small negative, which almost everyone knows. And that is that as a free agent after the season, he might be a short-timer.
So naturally, I tried to clear up that one lingering, little question in the two minutes I had with him Saturday before Soto had to hurry off to his pregame hitters meeting. (Personally, I’m not sure he needs a hitters meeting now, but I didn’t question it.)
I had just enough time to pose the $64,000 question (really, the $500 million question in this case): Does he want to stay in pinstripes?
No surprise, I’d have almost as good a chance to solve world peace.
Too soon to say, Soto said.
“I mean, right now I’m still learning the team. You cannot tell from one month into the season,” Soto said before the Yankees’ 5-3 win over the Tigers. “You’ve got to see how it’s going to be all the way until the season ends.”
Which only shows Soto knows how to deflect a question as well as take a pitch. It’s the percentage play not to show his hand, which we all know is a winning one, anyway.
In any case, he can’t hide the fun he’s having here. Beloved late Padres owner Peter Seidler before taking ill sought to make him a lifetime Padre last summer, as The Post reported, but unlike with those all-time underachieving 2023 Padres, it’s plainly obvious he fits beautifully in The Bronx.
“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Soto said. “It’s been a great experience. It’s a great group of guys. We all feel comfortable playing for each other. It’s feeling great so far.”
If he’s upset about having to do most of the lineup’s heavy lifting so far, he isn’t saying. The early MVP front-runner leads a team with two former MVPs in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, walks, hits, runs, home runs, RBIs — almost everything but strikeouts. But he isn’t making judgments about having to boost the underperforming, name-heavy group.
“At the end of the day, I don’t feel that way. I feel like we’re all doing our jobs,” Soto said. “It’s just some guys, they haven’t gotten the balls to land yet.”
As for The Decision, it’s fine he needs time. That only makes sense since he wasn’t prepared to commit to the Nationals after 3 ½ years there, which included a World Series championship.
Word was the AAV (average annual value) of the Nats’ no-deferral $440M, 15-year offer of just over $29M was a tad light. The Nats being in some flux at the time — the team was for sale then — was said to be another issue. Yes, this is a guy who can afford to consider carefully.
Even superstars oftentimes get to free agency and find the market limited, but that shouldn’t be true for Soto since he has many prime years left.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the most coveted free-agent pitcher ever last winter when every team that could afford him showed interest and six made $300M-plus offers to a pitcher who’d never thrown a pitch in an MLB game. Yamamoto has a lot going for him: a dynamic pitch mix (the curveball and splitter are both elite) a 98 mph fastball, poise, athleticism and competitiveness. But of course, the No. 1 selling point was his age.
He’s 25, same as Soto. Players just don’t hit free agency at that age.
Alex Rodriguez did, and he doubled the record contract for any North American team sport with his $252M Rangers deal in 2000 (Kevin Garnett’s $126M had been the record), which also included the first-ever opt-out, which are now handed out like candy.
Bryce Harper did, too, and despite a sub-2 WAR his walk year, still got a record deal for dollars and years at $330M for 13 years (but since he didn’t want an opt-out, and he’s triggering an era of thrilling Philly baseball while playing a heavy recruitment role, he’s seeking to extend his deal).
A few may play as well as Soto. But practically no one has played this better than Soto.
He appears positioned to double the A-Rod deal and set the record for biggest contract ever, depending how it’s counted. While two-way, international superstar Shohei Ohtani received $700M, with 97 percent deferred for a decade at no interest, his contract is valued at about $460M by the union (and perhaps less than that, depending on how well the Dodgers-owning, equity-savvy Guggenheim Partners invest it.)
That Ohtani deal is a record for total dollars. But Soto appears ready to set a record for real value.
So far, Soto is only deferring his answer to the big question.