Yankees: Hal Steinbrenner’s eye-opening response to potentially paying Juan Soto more than Aaron Judge

Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees are currently in the midst of what figures to be somewhat of a transitional period for the franchise coming off of what was a relatively disappointing 2023 MLB season. Just a year after Judge set the all-time AL record for home runs in a season and led the Yankees all the way to the ALCS where they ultimately lost to the Houston Astros, New York missed the playoffs altogether this past season.

Of course, the big story of the offseason so far for the Yankees was the acquisition of superstar Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres. Soto is currently under contract for one year at a hefty price of $31 million, begging the question of just how much the Yankees will be willing to commit to the former Washington Nationals World Series champion in the future.

Recently, Hal Steinbrenner, chairman and managing general partner of Yankee Global Enterprises, which owns the Yankees, attempted to answer that question, specifically whether or not he would be willing out more money to Juan Soto than he already is to Aaron Judge.

“I guess that’s an interesting question, but not one I’ve thought about,” said Steinbrenner, per Bryan Hoch of the MLB on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “I’m not sure Judge would care if we got Juan Soto for many years to come. But the market is what the market is, and he’s going to cost what he costs. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The Yankees’ season begins next month.