Aaron Judge’s salary won’t limit Juan Soto’s payday

Not sure where it got started that the Yankees will limit Juan Soto to Aaron’s Judge’s $40M annual salary. But that sounds like a guess — and a bad one. 

Judge is the game’s best position player. But here’s why Soto will get more per year even on a significantly longer deal: 1) Judge took less to stay; 2) the Mets weren’t in play then; and 3) Soto is many years younger, and those are prime years. 

Age plays. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, like Soto just 25, got $325M with no MLB experience (plus a $50.6M posting fee was paid).

Every big-market team was in, and the Phillies reportedly were going even higher. 

Judge also doesn’t care much about money and gets the importance of Soto for the team. 

While Gerrit Cole has an opt-out, the overwhelming belief is he’ll be back with the Yankees. The most likely scenario is Cole (0.52 ERA last three starts) opts out, and the Yankees bring him back by adding one more year at $36M, making it $180M for five years.

Among other players with opt-outs, Blake Snell, will likely opt out of $30M for 2025. One rival GM: He’ll opt out barring “catastrophic injury.” 

Matt Chapman will surely opt out of $17.5M for ’25 barring an extension (which the Giants would like to do).

Jacob deGrom is hoping to return by mid-September.