Juan Soto made it clear that he enjoyed playing for the New York Yankees this past season, but it was always expected that he would reach free agency this fall and try to reset the market for position players.
However, Yankees announcer Michael Kay isn’t happy with how Soto and his high-profile agent, Scott Boras, are handling the outfielder’s free-agency process.
“I think it’s unseemly,” Kay said about the Soto situation during Tuesday’s edition of ESPN New York’s *The Michael Kay Show*, as reported by Jimmy Hascup of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.
“Now I believe that he should get as much money as he possibly can. He should break every record if he can. You know, you should have teams bidding against each other, but having them make presentations to you like this.”
Kay was referring to reports from ESPN’s Jeff Passan and others, who revealed that Soto will start meeting with teams in California this week.
While the Yankees and New York Mets are considered the top contenders to sign Soto, the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox are also seen as strong possibilities for the 26-year-old outfielder.
Industry experts believe Soto will accept the best financial offer, even if it means playing in a city other than New York. This could lead to Soto earning between $600M-$700M in guaranteed money in his next contract.
“He handled himself in a really great way all year,” Kay added. “Why do this? Why make people dance for you?”
While Kay, as the voice of the Yankees, has strong opinions, there is no sign that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner feels the same way about Soto and Boras’ approach to the contract talks. Boras mentioned at the general manager meetings last week that Soto is looking for a team with “ownership that’s going to support that they are going to win annually.”
The upcoming meetings will allow teams to show they are committed to winning during at least the rest of Soto’s prime years.
