Top MLB insider calls Juan Soto’s contract ‘not a good baseball deal,’ believes New York Yankees ‘might be better off’

Juan Soto
Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Juan Soto shocked the baseball world earlier this week by becoming the highest-paid professional athlete of all-time.

The 26-year-old superstar agreed to an astronomical 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets after spending just one season with the New York Yankees. The Yankees offered Soto a 16-year, $760 million deal, but the four-time All-Star spurned the Bronx for Queens.

Soto is a generational talent. He finished third in American League MVP voting after hitting 41 home runs with a .989 OPS and 7.9 WAR. Over nine seasons, he has an incredible slash line of .285/.421/.532, with a 160 OPS+, 201 home runs, 179 doubles, 655 runs scored, and 592 RBI.

He easily topped Shohei Ohtani’s deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers by $65 million, and none of Soto’s money is deferred.

While the Mets and their fans are incredibly excited about what Soto will bring to the table for the next decade-and-a-half, one top MLB insider believes the Yankees might be better off letting him walk.

Related: Did New York Yankees refusing to give Juan Soto free family suite push him to New York Mets?

MLB insider calls Juan Soto’s contract ‘not a good baseball deal’

Juan Soto, New York Yankees
Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Appearing on the “Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney” podcast, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan ripped the contract, stating the Yankees “might be better off” not shelling out $760 million for Soto.

“It’s kind of amazing that the Yankees lost out on Juan Soto and might be better off at the end of the day,” Passan said. “It’s one of those situations where the baseball people, they look at this, and they weren’t rooting for Soto not to sign with them, and I’m not just talking [Yankees GM] Brian Cashman and [Mets president of baseball operations] David Stearns, but throughout the organizations, they weren’t rooting to lose on the Juan Soto sweepstakes, but it didn’t kill them all that much.”

Passan added that “this is not a good baseball deal.”

“It’s just not, in the context of everything else in the sport, it is an exceptional overpay,” Passan noted. “But it also shows you that when a guy is 26 years old and the caliber of Juan Soto and he hits free agency, it’s a bonanza.

“What this has shown me, and I think we knew this but maybe not to this extent, age matters more than just about anything. When you can combine talent and age, the world is your oyster.”

Related: New York Yankees insider reveals bizarre added reason why Juan Soto defected to New York Mets that involves incompetent guard

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