Everything you need to know ahead of Yankees' Juan Soto meeting Monday

The day's here -- well, one of the days, at least. The New York Yankees are set to meet with mega-star free agent Juan Soto on Monday in California, a meeting Brian Cashman was initially reticent about needing (or coy?) before coming to his senses.

Although the Yankees will not be receiving a decision from Soto today, it will be nice to see New York's braintrust steal the headlines and pilot the information machine again for a little bit. The Blue Jays, Red Sox and Mets, who all met with Soto last week, managed to steal the headlines from the Yankees as intended. You're not going to believe this, but all their meetings went really well! What are the odds?

In order to play in this arena, you need to have a certain amount of money earmarked; in other words, nobody's entering the Soto fray planning to underbid by $100 million. "New York" has felt like a foregone conclusion for quite some time now, but on an even playing field, that may not be such a cinch. The Yankees have to both match the highest bid and make their continuity sound appealing.

2024 was a phenomenal year for both Soto (41 homers, 178 OPS+, Gold Glove nomination) and the Yankees (American League champions), which certainly helps make a portion of their argument for them. The slugger may be tempted to leave for greener pastures, but the Yankees aren't selling a hypothetical here. They're just describing what Soto just accomplished and encountered.

Who will be at Yankees' Juan Soto meeting in MLB free agency?

Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone will reportedly join Scott Boras and Soto in California on Monday.

The meeting comes in the wake of a relatively detail-free Jays meeting, as well as a Boston sitdown that included ownership, Craig Breslow, and purportedly Alex Cora (who was cheeky when approached). John Henry, the money man, was not present for what was reportedly a three-hour get-to-know-you session without contract offers being exchanged. Soto was apparently given a presentation regarding the Red Sox success with Dominican talent, and came away "impressed" (naturally).

The Mets? They sent Steve Cohen west for what was a "very detailed" meeting, which left them "hopeful - maybe optimistic" about securing Soto's services. That means the burden falls on the Yankees to remind the generationally talented power-and-patience bat what he enjoyed about last season, while putting a clear emphasis on what's next.

Red Sox "impressive," Mets meeting "very detailed" ahead of Yankees' Monday meeting

Take any and all rumors of compensation with a hundred grains of salt, but former major leaguer Carlos Baerga seems to believe the Mets offered $660 million during their Soto sit-down. There isn't much reason to believe that is true, but if we act under the assumption that such an offer is real, that wouldn't qualify as "blowing away" any potential Steinbrenner offering. He has the power to match that, and should.

The other salt-grain-covered rumor to emerge this weekend indicates the Mets' plan to offer Soto a higher lump sum than the Yankees, but that the Yankees will offer him more money per season. This runs counter to everything that Yankees have done with position player contracts in recent years; they typically like to extend them and lower the AAV, rather than compress them. This rumor doesn't pass the smell test, either.

Regardless, some actual, tangible info from a Yankees-Soto meeting -- even if it's "it went well and they feel good!" -- would do wonders right now for an info-scape currently polluted by shots in the dark.