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The New York Yankees reportedly came up just short in their bid to retain star slugger Juan Soto.
Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Yankees offered Soto a 16-year, $760 million deal before he ultimately agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets on Sunday, which set the record for the largest deal in professional sports history.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan noted that Soto’s deal with the Mets includes no deferments and has escalators that can push it above $800 million.
Losing Soto to the crosstown team after one season undoubtedly stings for the Yankees, who reached the World Series for the first time since their last title win in 2009 but fell short in five games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was just a year ago that the Yankees sent pitchers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka to the San Diego Padres to acquire Soto and outfielder Trent Grisham.
In his lone season in Pinstripes, Soto hit a career-high 41 home runs while batting .288 and adding 109 RBI. He continued his steady production in the postseason with a .327 batting average, four homers and nine RBI. He had one of the most memorable moments of the playoffs with his go-ahead home run against the Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the ALCS.
MLB @MLB
JUAN SOTO. THREE-RUN HOMER. @YANKEES LEAD IN THE 10TH! pic.twitter.com/w5goa4pSwz
After losing Soto, the Yankees will have a major hole to fill in their lineup. Star outfielder and 2024 AL MVP Aaron Judge will be counted on even more to lead the team, though he will surely miss having Soto batting in front of him.
Still, it sounds like the Yankees did everything they could to try to retain Soto, but the Mets simply won out with a more lucrative offer.
