Yankees’ rumored Juan Soto strategy sounds like how they lost Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The Juan Soto chase has been inundated with positive reports from other teams' meetings, as well as scattered tidbits from attention-seeking sources. Bottom line? If the Yankees want to secure Soto's services, they'll need to pay up significantly, and that is no sure thing.

There's certainly a chance -- a good chance, actually -- that Mets owner Steve Cohen makes a desperation heave, blowing away the competition and flexing his financial muscles on one singular player for the first time. So far, he's managed to outbid the rest of baseball for aging aces and has shown his might by paying those aces not to play for his team without a second thought. He's yet to truly splurge on a generational talent. Soto could be that trend-breaker.

If Cohen shows no mercy, the Yankees won't have much of an advantage in their sales pitch of, "Remember last year? It was fantastic. Real quick, would you consider the Yankees to be your 'hometown' team?" But it's far more likely that Cohen -- and the Red Sox, who aren't kidding around, and have become skilled at making emotional appeals -- will make "large, generous offers within reason."

Cohen didn't amass a fortune outbidding the competition by $250 million just to get his way. He'll be strategic, too, and Hal Steinbrenner's Yankees should have a chance to match. If all things are equal, most still believe he'll choose to remain in the Bronx after their partnership got off to a remarkably successful and love-filled start.

And now, we get to the fun part of the offseason where we have to do mental gymnastics to redefine what "equal" means. If the Yankees, for instance, offer the highest AAV, but fewer years/a smaller lump sum, would Soto consider that a generous offer?

Yankees' contract offer to Juan Soto should be higher than the Mets' in every respect to ensure they win the bidding

If such a rumor became reality, that would mirror what happened with Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto last winter. The Yankees purportedy offered him 10 years and $300 million with an opt-out after Year 5. The Dodgers went to 12 years and $325 million; less money annually, very obviously more money in total.

Of course, the Yamamoto situation featured a Japanese ace who was enthralled by the idea of joining Shohei Ohtani, something that happened midway through negotiations. Soto? No one is positive what he wants, but he spent a fruitful year in pinstripes, and there doesn't seem to be a good chance of a mid-winter move that changes his calculus. Pairing up with either Aaron Judge, Francisco Lindor, or Rafael Devers is a good starting point, though.

Our two cents on this particular rumor? Don't get hung up on it. It might seem familiar, based on the Yamamoto chase, but it's not how the Yankees typically behave when it comes to offensive free agents. They love to stretch out deals to lower the AAV (think DJ LeMahieu's six-year contract) rather than condense them and put a higher tax burden on the books. Often, that comes back to bite them.

Still, it would be strange and out-of-character if the Yankees won the bidding on annual cost, but lost on total value, given that they vastly prefer to present contracts that offer the opposite advantage. Unless ... a higher AAV was a Soto-specific request, in which case, they have the upper hand. We can dream.