Bill Madden: Hal Steinbrenner hyping his player relationships in bid to lure Juan Soto back to Yankees

NEW YORK — Welcome to Scott Boras’ perfect world.

In Juan Soto, baseball’s Avenging Agent has the perfect free agent, a super slugger just 26 years old and already in his prime, and a perfect storm of competition for his services with all of the large market teams — Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Phillies and Red Sox — anxious and willing to blow past baseball’s luxury tax barriers to satisfy their demanding fan bases. Unlike so many previous years when Boras was hard-pressed to get a bidding war going for his high-priced clients and had to resort to leaking tales of a “mystery team” suddenly emerged into the bidding, there’ll be none of that this offseason with Soto. The big guys are all in and who knows how high the bidding is going to go, although Boras’ projections of Soto becoming the first $50 million-a-year player do not seem so far-fetched now.

Because of Steve Cohen’s seemingly unlimited resources, the Mets are regarded as the favorites to land Soto, especially if “the most money” is the deciding factor for him. But the Mets as presently constituted have a more pressing need with their starting rotation — Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Jose Quintana are all free agents — which must be adequately addressed if they are to overtake the Phillies and Braves in the NL East. Again, however, because of Cohen’s money, the Mets are also viewed as favorites to sign Orioles ace Corbin Burnes, the top starter on the market who grew up in the Brewers system under Mets president of baseball ops David Stearns. It helps the Mets have $150 million coming off the books in expired contracts, but Cohen obviously intends to spend all of that back and a whole lot more.

What’s interesting is there wasn’t a whole lot of leaked scuttlebutt about Soto’s meeting with the Mets hierarchy at Cohen’s Beverly Hills Mansion last week, while his meeting with Hal Steinbrenner and Yankee officials in a hotel a few days later was described as being very “warm” and “honest.” And in a scrum with the media at the owners’ meetings a couple days later, Steinbrenner sure sounded like he’s ready to spend silly money when he said, “I’ve got ears. I know what’s expected of me.”

Even though the Yankees have by far the most revenue in baseball, there’s nothing Hal can do if Cohen decides he has to have Soto at whatever cost and blows the market into a record-shattering stratosphere. But there are believed to be some intangibles that could influence Soto’s decision above and beyond the money. Specifically, he has reportedly told people he became very close with Nationals owner Ted Lerner when he was with Washington and Padres owner Peter Seidler in San Diego. But when Lerner’s son Mark took over as Washington’s CEO in 2018, the relationship wasn’t the same and that was a principal factor in his turning down their 15-year, $440 million extension offer in 2022. Similarly, when Seidler died in November 2023, Soto made it known to the Padres he wasn’t interested in signing an extension with them before becoming a free agent.

This is why one of Steinbrenner’s principal selling points in his meeting with Soto was his close relationship with Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole, his two highest paid players, with whom he often seeks counsel — and how it would be the same with him. And, of course, there is always the matter of the Yankee brand, which unlike the Mets’, is all over the world. I’m sure Hal brought up Robbie Cano in his talk with Soto. And as Derek Jeter said, he’s made more in endorsements after his career, and it really is hard to see Soto signing with the Phillies or Blue Jays. (As one Blue Jay insider told me last week: “Why in the world does anyone think Soto would sign with a last-place team in another country?”)

I scoffed when the Red Sox said they planned to get in on the Soto bidding, but I’m told their interest is sincere and they’re prepared to abandon their recent austerity stance. In Fenway Park, Soto could put up truly historic numbers over the next 10-12 years, which is what the Red Sox’s brass is thinking. But again, they don’t have the comfort relationship with him that the Yankees have.

As for the Dodgers, I just don’t see it. How many superstars do they need? What they do need is starting pitching. It is also being said that Soto does not want to play on the west coast.

All this said, Boras is going to push Soto to sign for the most money, which is what Cohen is counting on. Steinbrenner is counting on Soto seeing there is just as much money in endorsements and marketing beyond the contract because of just being a Yankee.

It’s a Madd, Madd, world

Elections and hurricanes have consequences and it now appears the consequences of both are likely going to mean the Tampa Bay Rays picking up stakes and re-locating, possibly as soon as 2026. There was much jubilation in Tampa Bay back in July when the city of St. Petersburg approved a deal for constructing a new $1.3 billion domed stadium for the Rays as the centerpiece of a massive $6.5 billion redevelopment project of the Gas Plant District where Tropicana Field is located. All that was waiting was for a similar green light from the Pinellas County Commission which was said at the time to be 5-2 in favor of the project. But when Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof on Tropicana Field on Oct. 9, it created another roadblock for the new stadium as it was estimated to be going to cost another $56 million for the repairs on a facility slated to be demolished in 2028. The hurricane forced the county to delay their vote until after the election — which resulted in two of the members who were in favor of the new stadium voted out and replaced by two newcomers opposed to it. Further exasperating tensions between the Rays and Pinellas County was the Rays decision to play their games next year at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa (Hillsborough County), even though it’s a vastly superior facility to the Phillies’ Florida State League ballpark in Clearwater. Then, on Friday the St. Petersburg City Council, after first approving to spend more than $23 million on the repairs to Tropicana Field, suddenly reversed course and delayed their vote until after the New Year, probably in response to the Rays not playing their games in Hillsborough County next season. So with the County Commission apparently now 4-3 against the new stadium and the delayed vote on repairs to Tropicana Field making it likely they won’t be completed until 2026, the Rays find themselves in stadium limbo. At the owners’ meeting in New York, I’m told Rays owner Stu Sternberg was given permission to re-locate the team if a new stadium deal is not in place by the end of this coming season.

Queue the Everly Brothers:

“Bye-Bye Rays. Bye-Bye Happiness. Hello Emptiness. Tampa Bay is about to cry. Bureaucrats kissed their team good bye. Bye-bye their Rays Bye-buy.”

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