NEW YORK (AP) — Hal Steinbrenner wants his relationship with Juan Soto to be similar to his friendship with Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole, and the New York Yankees owner emphasized the team's commitment to continually improve its roster if the star free-agent outfielder stays in the Bronx. Steinbrenner said the Yankees delegation at Monday’s meeting included team president Randy Levine, general manager Brian Cashman, manager Aaron Boone and senior adviser for baseball operations Omar Minaya. “We had a good meeting.
It was a very honest back-and-forth dialogue, a couple hours long," Steinbrenner said Wednesday. Asked how confident he was about keeping Soto, Steinbrenner said: “No idea. We'll be in the mix.
I’ll leave it at that.” “We listen to our fans, right? Our fans really enjoyed having him in New York,” Steinbrenner added. "He is definitely a significant part of why we got to the World Series.
So, I’ve got ears. I know what’s expected of me." The meeting lasted about two hours and took place at a hotel near Newport Beach, California, near the office of Soto's agent, Scott Boras, a person familiar with the session said.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because those details were not announced. Soto was acquired from San Diego last December and the Yankees reached the World Series for the first time since 2009. “We didn’t get to know each other that well,” Steinbrenner said.
“I was told that he is someone that when he’s in the clubhouse.