MLB Poll Suggests Yankees Could Spend $600 Million on 4-Time All-Star

It's known that the New York Yankees will need to open up their wallets to keep star slugger Juan Soto in pinstripes beyond 2024. The question remains just how much?

A new MLB poll of 13 experts published on August 15 by the New York Post's Jon Heyman suggests the number could stretch to $600 million.

Heyman wrote, "Expert predictions (agents not connected to Soto’s rep, BorasCorp) range from '[Mike] Trout’s contract' ($426M) to $600M," with an average predicted total value of $520.09 million across as many as 14 years.

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner told reporters in May that the team's franchise-high $302 million payroll is "simply not sustainable for us financially."

Soto's agent Scott Boras, however, has painted a different outlook on his superstar client.

“I don’t think centurions (a top 100 player to ever play the sport), for any team, are what you would consider a cost to a team, because it’s franchise-appreciation addition," Boras said on May 28 . "So whatever your franchise is worth, a centurion on your team would thereby make the team worth billions more.”

Through 118 games played, the four-time All-Star has lit up the Bronx with a .307 batting average, 34 home runs (one shy of his career high), 87 RBI, a league-leading 102 walks and 103 runs scored.

Soto previously turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from his original team, the Washington Nationals, in 2022.

As Heyman noted, "Soto’s other major advantage is he’s 25, which means about four or five more of the best years than the average free-agent star."

Related: Yankees Remain ‘Steadfast’ as Juan Soto Likely to Demand $600M