David Ortiz confirms he'll endorse crazy Juan Soto contract after Shohei Ohtani deal

Juan Soto, who's already given his Instagram a complete makeover and satisfied his uncle's longing after spending less than a week as a Yankee, would clearly be happy to stay in New York long-term. That doesn't mean he'll be entertaining any sort of hometown discount, though.

If anything, his price rose over the weekend, as Scott Boras salivated over Nez Balelo and Robert Herjavec's work closing Shohei Ohtani's $700 million deal packed with deferrals in LA.

Ohtani's offseason-shaking mega-deal changes the Yankees' priorities in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto chase in the short-term, as they'll now have to outbid a motivated Dodgers team that can reportedly still add pieces, in addition to the looming Mets. In the longer term, the historic pact added a Juan Soto worry to their plate, as Red Sox icon David Ortiz emphasized on Sunday.

The Yankees and Soto have one wonderful year (hopefully) ahead of them before Scott Boras rears his ugly head, and fans should absolutely savor it. Next offseason is poised to make "Arson Judge Week" look like child's play, especially since folks like Ortiz will make sure to rub it in over the course of the next 365 days. Soto doesn't pitch (and Soto, uh, might join Ohtani in the DH market at some point), but he's almost certain to receive $500 million, especially considering he turned down $440 million from the Nationals in 2022.

Ohtani's deal has significant deferrals to make things more palatable for Los Angeles and allow them to spend more in the next few offseasons. The Yankees had better hope Soto's will, too.

David Ortiz: Yankees have to pay up for Juan Soto

As Soto himself said in a recently resurfaced interview from 2019, every baseball player, whether they admit it or not, wants to be a Yankee. Part of that longing comes from the franchise's history and the promise of the biggest stage. The rest comes from their historic ability to pay up and make financial dreams come true for their most successful stars.

If all goes well for Soto in 2024, there's no good reason for him to accept less money to stay in the Bronx just because his family clearly contains some Yankee rooters. The Yankees will have to pay top of market or risk him running to another team with riches, potentially across town.

And, as of Saturday afternoon, that price might've risen by $50 million or so. Bottom line? Hal Steinbrenner has one full year to learn all he possibly can about deferrals.