Hal Steinbrenner divulged what he knows and what he was willing to share. The Yankees owner, GM Brian Cashman, manager Aaron Boone, adviser Omar Minaya and team president Randy Levine visited star free agent Juan Soto and agent Scott Boras on Monday.
The meeting was “a very honest, back-and-forth dialogue” that lasted a “couple hours.” Soto, who knows plenty about the Yankees after playing all of last season in The Bronx, had questions about the player-development system, which he does not know well and which plays a large factor in which teams win and which teams do not.
Steinbrenner did not divulge — or did not know — much else amid a highly pressurized free-agency hunt for a 26-year-old, generational slugger. Four times in a 14-minute scrum Steinbrenner said “no idea” in regards to Soto’s wishes. He did not promise that Soto would end up a Yankee but said, “We’ll be in the mix.”
Soto played an entire season in pinstripes and by all accounts enjoyed his time as a Yankee. Does the club have an inherent advantage in the sweepstakes?
To this — and to just about all the queries of a similar ilk — a main suitor for Soto’s services might as well have shrugged.
“No idea,” Steinbrenner said Wednesday in Midtown, where he attended the Owners Meetings. “All I know is he’s earned this, and he’s going to go through the process.”
Among the known contenders are Steve Cohen’s Mets, the Red Sox, the Blue Jays and the Dodgers. By present value, Soto’s contract is expected to become the largest in the sport’s history.
Steinbrenner, whose net worth is dwarfed by Cohen’s, knows the stakes of a derby that will define the club’s offseason.
“We listen to our fans,” Steinbrenner said. “Our fans really enjoyed having him in New York. He’s definitely a significant part of why we got to the World Series.
“I’ve got ears. I know what’s expected of me. It’s been a priority — wouldn’t have gone out to the West Coast if it wasn’t.”
