The New York Yankees agreed to one-year contracts with Nestor Cortes, Victor González, Trent Grisham, Clay Holmes, Jonathan Loáisiga, Clarke Schmidt, Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, Jose Trevino and Alex Verdugo, thus avoiding arbitration with each for the 2024 season.
Financial terms for any of the players were not released by the team, but Soto and the Yankees avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $31 million contract, according to multiple reports.
That broke the MLB arbitration record for largest one-year deal, which previously belonged to Shohei Ohtani when he signed a $30 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels for the 2023 season.
It wound up being Ohtani’s sixth and final year with the Angels, and he went on to set another record with his $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Soto is only one month into his Yankees tenure. The San Diego Padres traded Soto and Trent Grisham to the Yankees for Michael King, Kyle Higashioka, Randy Vásquez, Jhony Brito and Drew Thorpe.
That brought an abrupt end to Soto’s Padres career after being traded to the team during the 2022 season.
The Yankees are hopeful the three-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger can help the team rebound from finishing in fourth place of the American League East with an 82-80 record that was not good enough to qualify for the postseason.
Also on Thursday, the Yankees reportedly agreed to a two-year, $37 million contract with Marcus Stroman. It had otherwise been a largely quiet free agency period for the Yankees, who were among the finalists to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto before he joined the Dodgers on the richest contract ever given to a pitcher.
Juan Soto free agency
The Yankees trading multiple players and doling out a significant contract to Soto are all part of a high-stakes gamble. The 25-year-old is on track to become a free agent after the 2024 season and isn’t considered likely to sign a contract extension prior to that point.
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