Such a contract, at first glance, would fall short of the 10-year, $700 million deal. worldwide superstar Shohei Ohtani from Southern California to Los Angeles Dodgers. But Soto’s new deal could be considered equal to or larger than Ohtani’s, even if it’s south of $700 million.

That’s because Dodgers DH and pitcher Ohtani will earn a paltry $2 million per season for the next 10 years. But it will earn $68 million annually in deferred payments over 11 to 20 years. greatly reduces actual intake–pay at home.

Represented by Soto hard-working super agent Scott BorasHe showed no signs of offering help to his new employer, as Ohtani did.

Free agency “will be exciting” Soto told reporters a few minutes later: THto Yankees He lost Game 5 of the World Series, ending the baseball season. “It’s going to be a good experience. I think every player in the big leagues wants to experience it. So it’s exciting to see how it goes.”

Soto just returned Late last month 26puts him in the best position of his career to make money on the open market.

There are players to record six years of MLB service time. Before they are allowed to fully test free agency. A half-dozen years of club control acts as a bit of a deterrent to signing free agents at salaries below the open market. maybe to be approaching or already past athletic peaks around 30 years old.

30-year-old Ohtani is the clear favorite Will be named NL MVP, Soto’s New York teammate, 32-year-old Aaron Judge, is expected to be the AL’s top prize.

Teams that sign high-priced former free agents go into this knowing that this will happen. overpayment for agingless productive stars in the back end. If Soto stays healthy, he’ll need to have a few more monster seasons that could help alleviate the late-career negativity.

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper signs 13-year, $330 million contract Contract at the beginning of 2019 It was a record deal at the time. The Phillies paid him a bonus just because he was 26 years old.

Harper is currently 32 years old Entering his seventh season in South Philly, he remains one of baseball’s elite players. He hit 30 home runs last year and had a Earnings Above Replacement (WAR) of 5.2, which ranked 20th best among 1,454 MLB players. According to FanGraphs.

Soto from San Diego to Yankees 11 months ago in a tradeHe said he enjoyed playing in New York but stayed away from committing to the Big Apple.

“I’m really happy with the city and the team, but at the end of the day we’ll see.” HE in question.

And this season has proven that: should be clear: Large payrolls are almost a necessity for success.

The AL champion Yankees had MLB’s second-highest payroll at $309.8 million on their 40-man roster, according to Baseball Prospectus.

The NL runner-up Mets came in at No. 1 with $341.8 million, while the World Series champion Dodgers spent a deceptively low No. 3 finish with $288.8 million because of Ohtani’s love deal.

The Cleveland Guardians were MLB’s only bottom-spending team, ranking 23rd with a payroll of $106.2 million.

There’s no word on when Soto or other free agents will sign with teams in 2025.

Dodgers announce signing Ohtani on December 11San Francisco Giants did not sign Cy Young-winning pitcher Blake Snell until March 19Less than two weeks until Opening Day.

Who made Soto’s announcement arouses even more curiosity.

“We will look at every situation, every offer we get,” Soto said. “I don’t know which teams want to come after me, but I’ll definitely be open to listening to any team. I don’t have any closed doors or anything like that, so we’ll be ready for all 30 teams.”