Juan Soto's clutch 10th-inning home run in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday night in essence pushed the Yankees past the Cleveland Guardians and into the 2024 World Series, where they will face either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the New York Mets. The Yankees are a franchise with so much success it's difficult to chronicle, but, even by those lofty standards, what Soto did is one of the great moments in team history.
As you know, this sort of thing from Soto isn't surprising. He's one of the best hitters in all of baseball, and he was in peak form for the Yankees in his first season in the Bronx. The question, at least once the World Series is settled, is whether this will be Soto's only season in the Bronx. The Yankees acquired him via trade with the Padres knowing that 2024 would be his walk year – knowing that Soto was likely committed to the free-agency process and that, as a 25-year-old with sky-scraping numbers, he was going to command the biggest non-Shohei Ohtani contract in MLB history.
The Yankees, though, have more than enough resources to pay market rates (and then some) for a franchise player like Soto. Will they do it, though? In the afterglow of the pennant clincher, Soto's teammate Jazz Chisholm Jr. took the opportunity to make a simple entreaty to owner Hal Steinbrenner, who was quite possibly within earshot:
"Pay my guy! Pay Juan Soto!"
Here's a look and a listen:
What's certain is that someone is going to pay Juan Soto. No less a voice than Chisholm's is saying that someone better be the Yankees.