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Many people believe that New York Yankees Juan Soto has the potential to break Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million record contract with Los Angeles Dodgers. The next biggest Major League Baseball (MLB) contract is with Mike Trout, who is on a year deal with the Los Angeles Angels worth a whopping $426 million.
What did MLB insider reveal about Juan Soto?
Soto's three-run homer in the ALCS Game 5 victory has many calling for Brian Cashman to re-sign the Dominican. Even Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Giancarlo Stanton said that they wanted Soto to be their teammate next season. Chisholm Jr. wants the Yankees to offer the Dominican a $700 million contract.
While talking on the Dan Patrick Show, MLB insider Jeff Passan was asked whether Soto can break Ohtani's record in the upcoming free agency.
"Well, Caveat here. If we are adjusting for present-day value, you know, because 68 of 70 million dollars every year for the next 10 years of Shohei Ohtani's salary is going to be deferred, taking the actual value down somewhere between, like, you know, 350 to 475 million depending on how you do the math," Passan said.
"If we're talking about just dollars today, then yes, Juan Soto is going to crush Shohei Ohtani, that I firmly believe," Passan added.
Patrick even asked Passan can Soto break Ohtani's 'total worth of contract'. Initially, Passan said no but after some time he changed his decision and said yes.
"He [Juan Soto] does have one real advantage in that situation. He's still only 25. He's not turning 26 until Friday, the day of Game 1. The fact that, if you are an organization and you want to get Juan Soto, you can stretch this contract very reasonably for 15 years, and you're still going up to only his 40th birthday at that point," Passan further added.
The MLB in the past has seen cases where players' contracts have gone beyond the age of 40.
We'll see a single-season high: Jeff Passan on Juan Soto's free agency deal
The hot topic right now is how much money will Juan Soto make in free agency. To add fire to this, he showcased his slugging abilities in the ALCS. If things go well and the Yankees win the World Series, then Soto will claim a huge deal as Scott Boras is his agent.
After having endless debates with Patrick, Passan came to a conclusion about whether Soto could break Ohtani's record.
"I think what we are going to see is a single season, you know, adjusted for all those things. We'll see a single-season high, and I think it's going to be easily, at this point, in excess of 500 million dollars. If it hit 600 [million], it wouldn't surprise me at all, but 700 just feels like it's getting up a little too high," Passan concluded.
One thing is for sure Juan Soto's deal will be massive as the Yankees are the frontrunners to sign him along with the New York Mets. The Toronto Blue Jays and the San Francisco Giants also have an outside chance of signing the Dominican.
