Aaron Boone will be part of Yankees' Juan Soto meeting, plans to 'let it be organic'
Juan Soto is the biggest fish in the 2024-25 MLB Free Agency sea, and likely, with so many Scott Boras clients up in the next echelon, will be the one to set the bar for the offseason even knowing how much more he will get than anyone else.
Soto is going to meet with the Yankees in California next week, and while he doesn’t know who will be there from the team, SoCal native Aaron Boone plans to be part of the contingent.
“I think it will be a fairly small meeting, I don’t know who all will be there at this point, but I plan on being there for that,” Boone said during a media session Monday. “I will be there next week, and would love to have him back in pinstripes moving forward, but I know there’s a lot of people competing, and who knows where it ends up.”
At least the second richest contract in MLB history is the likely destination, as even if he doesn’t beat Shohei Ohtani’s guarantee, it seems like he could be the second-ever player to get a half-billion guaranteed.
That means the competition is more of the haves than the have nots, but as many Mets fans (including those on our air staff) believe Steve Cohen can’t/shouldn’t be outbid, Boone is confident
“We’ll try to put our best foot forward and hopefully he’s back, but whatever happens, I’m confident the front office and the Steinbrenner family will put us in position to have another team that can compete for a championship,” Boone said. “Hopefully it’s with Juan, but we’ll see how it all plays out. As you know, obviously, what Juan did for us between the lines was special; he put together a remarkable season. But, I was equally impressed with the person and really getting to know him…getting to manage him was a pleasure.”
Boone is hopeful that lived experience can help, and he has said throughout the last month or so in discussing Soto that the outfielder fit seamlessly into the clubhouse this season – so his plan for the meeting, at least, is to go in there and just be himself.
“It’s hard because I do know him, so certainly, the idea is to let the meeting be organic and go where it needs to go,” Boone said. “Maybe he’ll have questions or want to address certain things, but I’ll go in there and be myself, confident with my relationship with him and ability to have honest conversations with him, and cement how much we think of him as a player and a person.”
