Amidst Yankees’ Inability to Pay Juan Soto $500 Million, Agent Scott Boras Opens Up on Relationship With Owner Hal Steinbrenner

In high-stakes sports like Major League Baseball, signing star players has often come with controversy and responsibility. A similar story revolves around Yankees star player Juan Soto, who is set to become a free agent after the current MLB season. The 25-year-old beast outfielder is up the hill as Scott Boras wants Juan Soto’s deal to be done at a staggering $500 Million value. However, the Yankees owner is finding the deal difficult due to the luxury tax taking them far away from the $500 Million price tag.

Juan Soto might justify the price tag as a 19-year-old, he led the Washington Nationals to a World Series. Since then, the corner outfielder has been a walking art on the field. From having a .421 on-base percentage along with a .943 OPS, Scott Boras seems to preserve Soto for a high-end deal. 

Scott Boras and Hal Steinbrenner Saga: The talk of the town

Being Juan Soto’s agent, Scott Boras is clearly seeing Soto as someone who can improve any franchise brand worth. As stated by Boras, Soto is “a centurion,” a player who can become among the top 100 players in MLB history. Boras went on saying, “I don’t think centurions, for any team, are what you would consider a cost to a team because it’s franchise-appreciation addition. So whatever your franchise is worth, a centurion on your team would thereby make the team worth billions more.”

But what made him imply such strong words? The comments came after Hal Steinbrenner said that the club’s payroll of around $313 million is “not sustainable” in the long term due to luxury tax penalties. 

“In general, centurion-type players add literally millions and millions of dollars to a franchise value. When you represent a centurion. You don’t worry about what the cost of them to a franchise is because they increase the value of a team. The only cost you worry about is the cost to build a monument,” Boras reacted. 

Reassuring his healthy relationship with Steinbrenner, Boras said, “he and Steinbrenner talk all the time and have a really good relationship.”

Boras’ track record and the road ahead for the MLB star Juan Soto

Seeing the recent track record of Boras, he seems to be a master at crafting words. It looks like he is not guaranteeing anything and yet leaving an open door for communication. 

In the past, Scott Boras rejected a massive 15-year, $440 million extension deal from the Washington Nationals back in 2022. This was followed by trading Soto to the San Diego Padres in 2023 and, finally, signing a deal with the Yankees for a massive $31 million. Furthermore, Scott Boras has always been an agent who defies contract extensions for any of his players.

Read More: “Can’t Give You My Secret” Juan Soto Remains Coy After a Monstrous Day Signals a Much-Awaited Return to Form

On the contrary, Juan Soto has hinted at a contract extension with the New York Yankees. While he is busy winning games for the Yankees in 2024, Soto is open to communication in the future. 

In the end, if Boras and Steinbrenner can come to a common ground, fans will be the happiest seeing Soto’s legacy with Yankees grow stronger than ever.