For now, the New York Yankees are in a perilous position in the Juan Soto sweepstakes.

Other team executives yell hurrahs more loudly the longer the Yankees hesitate to trade for Soto. The team led by Hal Steinbrenner is unaffected by its current position as the front-runner to sign Soto. After experiencing their worst season in thirty years, the Bronx Bombers are in too much of a bind to scrеw up this arrangement, especially given the expectations of their fan base.

The Yankees have been connected to 25-year-old Soto, a four-time Silver Slugger who looks too good in pinstripes, for several weeks now. Every day, he could blast home runs to the short porch of Yankee Stadium with his left-handed bat. Soto would improve New York’s current scoring wоes—he had a 1.015 OPS with runners in scoring position last season—due to his penchant for being clutch. Because he insists on becoming a free agent after the 2024 season, the Yankees will have a full year to persuade him to sign a long-term contract.

And for those familiar with the Padres star, there’s no questioning his success in the Bronx.

“Because he loves the game of baseball,” Soto’s instructor of more than four years in Washingtоn, Nationals manager Dave Martinez, stated on Monday at the winter meetings. “Let me tell you a tale. When I first met him, I asked him what drives him. What motivates you? And he began by saying, “I love baseball.” That was all I was hoping to hear. Thus, he’ll manage it expertly.

“I cherish him. He is an opponent. He is among the game’s purest hitters. He’s a game changer, though. I’ve always thought the best of him. If San Diego chooses to keep him, whoever wins him will know they got a good one. But they will get a tremendously fine player wherever he ends up.”