Late night on December 11, the long anticipated decision was shared with the world. The fight for the best young player in baseball was over. Juan Soto was down to 5 teams: Blue Jays, Red Soxs, Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets. Soto, a 4 time all star, and 5 time silver slugger award winner has been great his whole career but last season he signed a one year contract with the Yankees and had his best season yet. In the 2024 regular season he had a 288 batting average, 109 runs batted in, and 41 home runs. 4 of those home runs being impactful in the playoffs. His performance throughout the 2024 season boosted his value in the free agent market.
Juan Soto made his decision after a long bidding battle on Monday night between the New York clubs. The Yankees offered Soto 760 million dollars for 16 years. The Mets offered him 765 million dollars for 15 years which Soto accepted. Soto left his club over 5 million dollars and one less year. This left many baseball fans in shock. One other thing Soto wanted was a box at the stadiums for his family. The Mets accepted this request. This shows Soto is thinking of his family throughout this process. A video shows Soto celebrating the record breaking deal with his brother in his hot tub drinking and spraying beer at each other.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked by a reporter “How disappointing was it to not land Soto?” Aaron Boone said, “Obviously we wanted the player back, You know Ownership and the front office did everything they could to make it happen, Juan earned the right to be in the position he was in, and he made the decision he felt that was best.” On December 18 it was announced that the Yankees landed Max Fried. Signing him to the largest contract for a left handed pitcher in MLB history. The Yankees Landed Fried for 8 years 218 million dollars.
