Hal Steinbrenner wants to make Juan Soto 'a Yankee for life'

MINNEAPOLIS – It has long been an ownership policy of the Yankees to let contracts expire and to not talk extensions before they do.

Hal Steinbrenner has referenced that publicly many times, but always with the caveat: “there can be exceptions.”

Not surprisingly, Steinbrenner is willing to make Juan Soto one of those.

Steinbrenner told his YES Network’s Jack Curry on a soon-to-be-released podcast episode that he wants to make the 25-year-old Soto “a Yankee for life” and is “likely” to engage with the player’s agent, Scott Boras, at some point during the season trying to make it happen.

Equally not surprising, Soto said after the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Twins, he would be fine if Boras engages in those talks.

“My door’s always open,” Soto said. “Whenever he (Steinbrenner) wants to start talking with Scott and all his people…they’re always open to hear whatever he has (to say). For me, I just focus on the game right now… My thing is try to help the team to win as (many) games as we can and try to focus on winning a championship.”

Boras, the most powerful agent in the sport by far and with many of the game’s stars in his stead, is known for rarely doing extensions and taking his players into free agency to maximize top dollar (ultimately, his job as an agent).

But with Soto all but certain to blow past $500 million in whatever deal he signs – and no one should be shocked if it surpasses $600 million – there’s only a few teams willing to put forth that kind of financial commitment.

The Yankees, of course, are one. The Mets, backed by Steve Cohen’s sizeable bank account, are another and the industry-wide expectation is they will take a serious run at Soto once he’s on the market.

That potential dynamic – a New York bidding war between two of the sport’s highest-revenue teams – is an opportunity Boras probably won’t want to pass up, thus making an in-season extension highly unlikely.

But the chances, long as they are, aren’t zero, either.

Soto, though appropriately keeping his cards to his vest, and doing so since arriving to the Yankees when it comes to talking about 2025 and beyond, has clearly enjoyed his time so far in the Bronx. And not just on the field where he, even experiencing the first mini-slump of his season, is hitting .302 with a .920 OPS.

“It’s been pretty nice, it’s been pretty cool,” Soto said of being a Yankee. “Fanbase has been amazing, not only in New York, they’ve been all over every stadium we go. You can hear it…the fanbase has been unbelievable. New York feels great. It’s a lot of culture, a lot of Hispanic culture and everything. I’ve been feeling good so far and the stadium and clubhouse and everything has been pretty cool.”

Later, he mentioned Yankees fans again, this time in comparing this organization to his previous ones, the Nationals and Padres.

“Just a massive fanbase,” Soto. “It’s way bigger than both teams I’ve been (with). Washington has a great fanbase, San Diego has a huge fanbase, but I think here, it’s just been great. Massive fanbase. I think that’s the biggest difference for me.”