By most accounts, New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen will soon engage in a bidding war over the services of Juan Soto. While speaking with reporters such as Newsday's Tim Healey on Wednesday, Steinbrenner was asked if losing Soto to the Mets would be a particularly painful blow considering the clubs are crosstown rivals. No, " Steinbrenner responded, as shared by the SNY website.
" As I said, we’re going to be in the mix for Soto. If it doesn’t work out, it’s going to hurt a little bit no matter where he goes ." Earlier this week, Yankees announcer Michael Kay suggested that Cohen could outbid Steinbrenner by up to " $50M " to win the Soto sweepstakes.
Considering Steinbrenner said this past spring his club's payroll was " not sustainable " due to luxury-tax penalties, some fans understandably may have assumed the Yankees left Monday's sit-down meeting with Soto's camp hoping the All-Star outfielder would offer the storied club a discount after he helped the Bronx Bombers reach this year's World Series. " W e're in a better starting position than we were a year ago, " Steinbrenner said Wednesday about the Yankees' payroll. " There's no doubt about that.
Look, year after year after year after year, payrolls similar to this year and the luxury taxes they produce are not sustainable, not feasible, and that's the case for the vast majority of owners, and maybe all of the owners. Doesn't mean in any given year I can't do what I want t.