Since coming to the New York Yankees, Juan Soto is making it easier to decide on his future with the team.
Owner Hal Steinbrenner spoke on the subject recently and said he would love to see the three-time All-Star sporting the pinstripes “for the rest of his life.”
“I don’t think there’s any doubt of that,” Steinbrenner said, on a recent YES Network podcast (H/T Bryan Hoch, MLB.com). “His agent, Scott [Boras], doesn’t tend to normally do deals in the middle of a season. Neither do I. I think it can be a distraction. But as I said in spring training when I met with [the media], this is a unique situation and a very unique player. So, I wouldn’t be shocked if there was a conversation or two had possibly during the course of the season.”
Soto currently is slashing .310/408/.530 with a .938 OPS. He’s tallied 52 hits and 34 RBI.
“I think it’s worth doing at some point,” Steinbrenner added. “I wanted to give Juan time to really settle in, have a conversation with him at some point and make sure that obviously the most important thing is, is this a place he can see himself for a long time?”
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Soto was a generational bat — similar to Steinbrenner’s other comments — after he was acquired via trade in December. However, back in February he did say he viewed the Soto deal as a one-year thing.
Things change, obviously.
“He’s the complete package,” Steinbrenner said. “I had no doubts he would perform here under pressure; zero doubts with that. I was curious to see how he’d interact with the fans, how he would interact with the media, and of course how he would interact with the rest of the players, and it’s just been great, great and great on those three things. … We’ve seen the animated side of him as well. He’s fun to watch.”
[MLB.com]
