Aaron Judge: Yankees ‘lucky’ to have Juan Soto before free agent deal | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

After a disappointing end to the 2024 season, the New York Yankees’ focus now shifts to hoping they can retain Juan Soto as he prepares to hit free agency for the first time in his career.

After a 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series, Aaron Judge said the Yankees were “lucky” with Soto this year and hoped they could support him moving forward.

There’s no reason the Yankees can’t keep Soto, but there are questions about whether owners would be willing to make that financial leap. Spotrac They already have an estimated $249.5 million in salary obligations for next season based on arbitration projections.

The MLB Competitive Balance Tax for 2025 will be kit worth $241 million. If the annual value of Soto’s deal is around $50 million, the Yankees would pay around $300 million, not including penalties for exceeding CBT for the fourth year in a row.

Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner told reporters said in May that the team’s current payroll was “simply not sustainable for us financially” due to tax penalties they had to pay.

Steinbrenner made these comments long before the Yankees made their first run at the World Series since 2009, but he has also been much more financially conservative with payroll than his father George since he took over the day-to-day team activities. club in November 2008.

Everyone expected Soto to excel with the Yankees when he was acquired from the San Diego Padres in December 2023, but he has managed to exceed much of the hype. The four-time All-Star hit .288/.419/.569 with 41 homers in 157 regular-season games.

Soto added to his Yankees history with a fantastic postseason performance. He hit .327/.469/.633 in 14 games and became a New York icon with a go-ahead home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians that sent the Yankees to the World Series.

Of course, Soto’s high level of production combined with the fact that he’s only 26 years old means he’s set to cash in on a huge contract this offseason.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Fox Sports recently said: Dirty territory that Soto’s average annual salary on his next deal “will start at an A.”

According to The Athletic Jim BowdenMLB executives expect the total value of Soto’s deal to be between $550 million and $650 million.

Shohei Ohtani is currently the only player with an average annual salary of at least $45 million and a total contract value of more than $430 million.

The pairing of Soto and Judge has become the most productive duo in MLB. Their total is 20.3 FanGraphs’ the number of wins without replacement was the highest of any teammate in 2024.

It would seem silly to break them up at this point after the season they both had, but the Yankees will have to fight if they want to keep Soto in 2025 and beyond.