The moment Yankees fans had been eagerly awaiting arrived on Monday afternoon when a group including owner Hal Steinbrenner, GM Brian Cashman, and manager Aaron Boone (controversial as he may be) met with star free agent Juan Soto and his agent, Scott Boras, in Southern California. The stakes for this meeting had only grown higher recently, as AL East rivals Boston and Toronto pitched their visions to Soto, and Mets owner Steve Cohen was reportedly ready to outbid everyone. The competition for the 26-year-old is fierce, and this was the Yankees’ key opportunity to convince him to remain in the Bronx.
Here’s the positive news: According to Jon Heyman of the *New York Post* and other sources, the meeting went “very well.” Soto apparently enjoyed his time with the Yankees and appreciated the team’s strong desire to bring him back. However, there’s a catch: Contrary to earlier expectations, the Yankees won’t have the final word with Soto. The next team in line could leave Yankees leadership feeling extremely uneasy.
Dodgers, not Yankees, will get the last word with Juan Soto
Soto and Boras aren’t wrapping up their meetings just yet—one major suitor remains: the Los Angeles Dodgers, fresh off defeating Soto and the Yankees in this year’s World Series.
It was expected that the Dodgers would at least explore the idea of signing Soto—they’re the Dodgers, after all, and they explore every possibility. But whether they were seriously in the mix was uncertain. Los Angeles has the resources (especially with Shohei Ohtani deferring much of his massive contract), but with Ohtani occupying the DH role regularly and significant needs in their starting rotation, pursuing Soto initially seemed like a questionable allocation of funds. As recently as last week, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Dodgers “won’t chase after” the outfielder, implying that the Yankees and Mets might be more aggressive suitors.
Now, though, can we be so sure? The Dodgers aren’t typically used as a bargaining chip in negotiations; the fact that Soto and Boras are meeting with them suggests that L.A. has demonstrated enough interest to be taken seriously. It also signals that Soto is open to the idea of returning to the West Coast. That’s a potentially daunting development for other teams because if the Dodgers are prepared to make a financial commitment, their pitch to Soto could rival or surpass any other team’s.
Soto appears to prioritize consistent contention, and few teams can offer that better than Los Angeles. With a core that remains intact and the Dodgers’ combination of financial clout and strong player development, they’re positioned to sustain success even as stars like Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman eventually move out of their primes. While the Yankees and Mets remain the frontrunners—they have the resources and a greater sense of urgency to land Soto—it’s worth remembering that the Dodgers have lost high-profile bidding wars before, such as when they bowed out of the Gerrit Cole sweepstakes. Still, the Yankees can’t feel great about their promising meeting being immediately overshadowed by the team that bested them in October.
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