Yankees activate plan B for Juan Soto’s possible departure: These are the players they want

Yankees activate plan B for Juan Soto's possible departure: These are the players they want | Marca

The crown jewel of free agency for the 2025 Major League Baseball season is Dominican Juan Soto, who is one of the most coveted players with all 30 teams interested in convincing him, although the New York Yankees remain at the front of the line.

Soto is one of the most promising players in MLB, at 26 years old he has the potential to sign a millionaire and extensive contract, to compete with the one achieved by Shohei Ohtani with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which according to Tim Britton of The Athletic in the fall has a projection of $540 for 12 years, but the final offer could rise to $611 in a 13-year deal.

The Yankees are willing to open their wallets and make Soto a tempting proposal, but they risk the price going up in a bidding war, an experience they had last season when they competed with the New York Mets and the Dodgers for Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

In the World Series, Los Angeles fans were shouting from the outfield stands: “Soto Dodger”, which seemed to amuse the Dominican, which could be a sign that he would not mind going to California if they come to him with a juicy proposal, which would also involve playing for the champions and alongside Ohtani.

The Yankees want him, he was key to the return to the World Series after 15 years of absence, but they lacked the final push to win it, now they are ready to make an offer, but they are also preparing for the possibility of losing him and already have in their sights some options with the most outstanding free agents on the market.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman acknowledged that they see Pete Alonso as a “backup option” and, according to information from Jon Heyman of the New York Post, within their plan B they have other alternatives, among them are also on the list Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros and Anthony Santander of the Baltimore Orioles.

“And they have a legitimate interest, but people familiar with the situation told The Post that Alonso, Anthony Santander and Alex Bregman, as well as star pitchers are part of Plans B, C and/or D in case Soto does not return to the Bronx,” said Heyman, among the pitchers are the arms of Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.