ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
Soto belted a career-high 41 home runs while dealing with nagging hand and forearm injuries. He finished second in the majors behind teammate Aaron Judge in on-base percentage. He ranked third in OPS, third in wRC+, fourth in slugging percentage and fourth in fWAR. He and Judge were baseball’s most productive duo since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as the Yankees won 94 games, the American League East title and the AL pennant for the first time in 15 years. It was a platform year players dream about.
Along the way, Soto voiced his desire to become part of the team’s history while becoming a treasured figure in the Bronx. He embraced the roll calls in right field with air hugs. He punctuated his production with theatrics. He shuffled in the batter’s box. He stared pitchers down. He shook his head and nodded and smiled. His flamboyant relentlessness made every at-bat must-watch television. He did not yield a pitch, never mind a plate appearance. His inaugural year as a Yankee was unforgettable.
Now, though, it all might be over. The Yankees’ exclusive five-day window to negotiate and sign Soto ends Monday. Up next is a bidding war that could ascend well beyond $500 million. Surpassing Shohei Ohtani‘s heavily deferred $700 million deal in present-day value is possible.
Soto has repeatedly said he loved his time in New York. After the Yankees clinched the pennant in Cleveland, Soto’s father, also named Juan José Soto, raved in Spanish about his son’s experience as a Yankee.
“Spectacular. Spectacular,” Soto said during the Yankees’ on-field celebration. “The Yankees are the home of baseball. It’s the brand of baseball. And there isn’t anything like playing for the Yankees.”
Now, the younger Soto must decide whether he is going to play for them again.
FIVE NIGHTS AGO, Juan Soto, the son, sat atop the bench in the home team’s dugout at Yankee Stadium, dejected, watching the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate their World Series title as his teammates and coaches gathered their belongings. He was still wearing his batting helmet. His bat was still in his hands.
After staring at the mosh pit in the middle of the diamond, he stood up, walked to one end, climbed a step toward the field, bowed his head, said a prayer, glanced to the heavens and touched his chest, then vanished into the clubhouse.
The Yankees’ season, an 8½-month odyssey, was over. Soto’s career in pinstripes might have ended with it.
Did you think about that possibly being your last game as a Yankee? (You never know.) Do you want to return if the money is right? (I’m going to weigh my options.) Do the Yankees have an advantage in re-signing you because this year went so well? (Every team will have the same opportunity.) Does geography matter? (I don’t think so.) Do you expect the Mets to come after you? (I don’t know, but I’m open to all 30 teams.)
“Leaving any place that is a winning team is always hard, and definitely this place was really special,” Soto said that night. “It’s been a blast for me. I’ve been really happy. If I’m here or not, I’ve been really happy for the teammates that I have and the people that I get to know. This was a really special group, but at the end of the day, we will see what’s going to happen.”
The next morning, Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, told ESPN his superstar client’s priority is playing for a winner. That, according to Boras, means “a commitment by ownership to be competitive” and “a system that provides great players and great pitching.”
“Juan loves winning and winning organizations and a winning owner,” Boras said. “The geography part of it is that Juan and his loved ones are going to be comfortable. That’s what’s most important to him. And major league geography … Juan’s played on both: West Coast and East Coast. His main thing, the priority, is winning.”
The Yankees face stiff competition for Soto’s services. The New York Mets, boosted by billionaire owner Steve Cohen’s deep pockets, want him. The Toronto Blue Jays, the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies figure to have interest. The Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants seek a franchise linchpin. The Washington Nationals, the organization that signed and developed Soto out of the Dominican Republic, would welcome a reunion.
“This is going to stay in my heart for the rest of my life,” Soto said after the World Series finale. “I don’t know how it’s going to be next year.”
THE REASON THE Yankees chose to mortgage some of their future for just one guaranteed season of Soto was never more clear than on Oct. 19, in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, with the AL pennant on the line.
It wasn’t just Soto’s go-ahead, three-run home run off Cleveland Guardians right-hander Hunter Gaddis, one of baseball’s top relievers in 2024. It was the meticulous chess game to reach that swing. Soto fouled off four straight off-speed pitches, two sliders and two changeups before seeing a fastball and attacking. It was Soto at his finest.
“What impresses me the most is how young he is and how locked in he is every single day, ready to work,” Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes said. “I can’t imagine myself being 25 years old and doing what he does, and being so responsible and creating a lot of sacrifice. Because being 25 in New York, and the success he had, it’s tough to keep it level-headed every single day.”
This was Soto’s way all through the year. He homered in his spring training debut in Tampa. He fired the game-saving throw on Opening Day in Houston. He smashed the homer that sent the Yankees to the World Series, where he batted .313 with a 1.084 OPS.
“The one thing Juan has shown us all year is that flair for the dramatic,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “and knack for big situations.”
Yankees hitting coach Pat Roessler, who worked with Soto in Washington, marveled at the slugger’s work ethic. Soto, Roessler noted, has had the same routine since his days with the Nationals. He said Soto would work extra before or after games when he felt a tick off. He offered two reasons for Soto’s otherworldly hitting skill: an unreal ability to recognize pitches early and a compact swing he can repeat with extreme accuracy.
“I’ve never had a guy that could repeat his swing like that,” Roessler said.
That skill set made Soto a superstar by his 21st birthday and a World Series champion five days after that. It prompted the Nationals to offer him a 15-year, $440 million contract extension two years ago. When he declined, he was traded to San Diego. A year and a half later, Soto, a talent likened to Ted Williams, was traded again, to the Yankees — his third team in less than three years. It was a trade Boras insisted would not have happened if Padres owner Peter Seidler hadn’t died the previous month.
“Peter Seidler would have never traded Juan,” Boras said. “Economically, we were certainly very like in-kind thinking about who Juan Soto was and what his value was.”
The question now is whether Soto’s résumé will expand to a fourth club in less than four years.
“Anybody would be lucky to have him,” Cortes said. “I’m sure this organization is dying to have him back.”
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe said he wanted Soto to return “as bad as you can probably want something.”
Veteran slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who has never been a free agent, didn’t have any advice for Soto, only a request with a smile: “Just stay with us.”
All indications are that Soto is open to staying — and just as open to leaving. He has waited for this moment for years, ready to be finished with bouncing back and forth from coast to coast — ready for a permanent home. Now it is time to reap the benefits of his success and test the market.
His season in the Bronx might have been spectacular. There might not be anything like playing for the Yankees. That doesn’t mean he will do it again.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
Three departing members of the Mountain West Conference are suing the league, alleging it improperly withheld millions of dollars and misled them about a plan to accelerate Grand Canyon’s membership.
Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State filed an updated lawsuit in the District Court of Denver arguing the conference and Commissioner Gloria Nevarez willfully disregarded the league’s bylaws by “intentionally and fraudulently” depriving the schools of their membership rights.
The three schools, which are all headed to the Pac-12 after the 2025-26 school year, are seeking damages for millions of dollars of alleged harm caused by the Mountain West, including the withholding of money earned by Boise State for playing in last year’s College Football Playoff.
“We are disappointed that the Mountain West continues to improperly retaliate against the departing members and their student athletes,” Steve Olson, partner and litigation department co-chair for the O’Melveny law firm, said in a statement. “We will seek all appropriate relief from the court to protect our clients’ rights and interests.”
The Mountain West declined further comment outside of a statement released last week. The conference has said the departing schools were involved in adopting the exit fees and sought to enforce those against San Diego State when it tried to leave the conference two years ago.
“We remain confident in our legal position, which we will vigorously defend,” the statement said.
The three outgoing schools argue the Mountain West’s exit fees, which could range from $19 million to $38 million, are unlawful and not enforceable. The lawsuit also claims the Mountain West concealed a plan to move up Grand Canyon University’s membership a year to 2025-26 without informing the departing schools.
The Mountain West is also seeking $55 million in “poaching fees” from the Pac-12 for the loss of five schools, including San Diego State and Fresno State starting in 2026. The two sides are headed back to court after mediation that expired last month failed to reach a resolution.