Yankees insider: ‘I’ve heard’ Mets will outspend any Juan Soto suitor by this much

The Mets are making their intentions of bringing Juan Soto to Queens clear. On Saturday, former Mets infielder, and friend of Carlos Beltrán, Carlos Baerga indicated that the Mets are “said to be offering (Soto) $660 million.” Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay ran with the report on Monday, adding that Mets owner Steve Cohen is willing to go beyond that. “Knowing Scott [Boras], he’s going to want it to be over $700 because no matter what it’s worth, the benchmark now is the $700 million the Dodgers gave Otani,” Kay said on his ESPN New York show. This is bad news for the Yankees, who have little financial maneuverability compared to the Mets. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner is much more conservative than his father, George, and has already warned that the 2025 payroll can’t be $314 million like it was this year — they’re already committed to $221.2 million before arbitration, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Not only does the YES Network announcer not believe the Yankees will be willing to go to $700 million for Soto, he thinks no matter what the top offer is, Cohen will exceed that. “And then I’ve heard from somebody in baseball today that [Steve] Cohen’s willing to go $50 million over whatever anybody offers,” Kay said. “So it looks like the Mets really want to get this guy.” With the Yankees in 2024, Soto enjoyed the best 162-game season of his career. In 157 games, he slashed .288/.419/.569 and posted career highs in hits (156), run scored (128), home runs (41) and OPS+ (178). It was a season that saw him earn his fourth All-Star nod and marked his return to the World Series for the first time since 2019. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Manny Gómez may be reached at mgomez@njadvancemedia.com.