In an article titled “Expecting MLB Top Class Free Agent Contracts from 2024 to 2025”, he put Soto at the top of the ranking and presented the estimated contract size at $520 million for 15 years. Reporter Zachary Reimer, who wrote the article, said, “Juan Soto wasn’t going to receive much money last winter, but looking at his performance in his first season with the Yankees, it doesn’t mean that his ultimate will is being dampened.”
Soto transferred from the San Diego Padres to the Yankees through a trade in early December last year. There was a possibility that the Yankees might sign an extension contract with Soto as they had to sacrifice four promising pitchers and veteran catcher Kyle Higashioka, but the two sides did not have specific negotiations over the deal during the spring training period. In other words, Soto has made it clear that he will focus on baseball unconditionally and enter the market this season. Of course, his superagent Scott Boras’ strategy is to knock on the FA market after the season is over.
Just in time, Soto is displaying career-high performance since the season opened. As of the day, he has a batting average of 0.320 (80 hits in 250 times at bat), 17 homers, 54 RBIs, 55 runs scored, 51 walks, 0.433 on-base percentage, 0.592 on-base percentage and 1.025 on-base percentage. In both leagues, he is ranking fifth in batting average, tied for sixth in homers, fourth in RBIs, third in runs scored, second in walks, first in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging percentage, and second in OPS. It is fair to say that he is competing with his teammate Aaron Judge for the AL MVP. This is the kind of performance that we can predict will become the FA MVP.
“Soto has had more walks than strikeouts for the fifth year in a row. His slugging percentage is among the highest among individuals as of a 162 game season,” Rymer said. “An anonymous player told The Athletic that Soto is all about walks or single hits, but that should not be ignored.” This means that he continues to display top-notch performance not only in Soto’s best strength, such as his strong batting eye but also in his slugging and defense capability.
Notably, in defense, the OAA (average loss-to-loss index) has risen above the average from -9 last year to 1 this year. Most of all, Soto is still young, which is his charm. Born in October 1998, Soto is still 25, and if he signs a free agent contract, he will be eligible from age 26.
Reimer said, “There have been a series of predictions and reports that negotiations should start at 500 million dollars to catch Soto. Therefore, considering the performance of this season, I would like to maintain the level that I expected in December last year regarding the size of Soto’s contract.” He also offered a 15-year, 520 million dollars. The average annual salary is 34.7 million dollars.
In an article on Soto’s ransom forecast in December last year, reporter Reimer said, “A 13-year contract with 40 million dollars of AAV would be 520 million dollars, but Soto and Boras can grant clemency and try to guarantee 15 years by lowering AAV. Then, it would be 34.7 million dollars for AAV and 520 million dollars in total.” This is not the first time that Soto’s starting point for FA negotiations is 500 million dollars. 동행복권파워볼
ESPN released the results of a survey on 28 experts, including officials from each club, agents, and reporters, asking about the size of Soto’s FA contract on the 12th, with 17 more than half predicting more than $500 million. In particular, the three experts who answered more than $600 million expected $600 million in 14 years, $605 million in 12 years and $655 million in 10 years, respectively.
The largest contract ever made in the Major League was 700 million U.S. dollars over 10 years, which was signed by Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers in December last year. However, the current value will be reduced to 460 million dollars, as he will receive 97 percent of the total contract, or 680 million dollars 10 years later. If Soto achieves 500 million dollars or more without a “deferral” contract, the current price will surpass Ohtani.