Yankees' Hal Steinbrenner under fire over Juan Soto comments

Add MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Fox Sports to the list of noteworthy people who have criticized New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner for somewhat suggesting earlier this week the club may not be able to sign All-Star outfielder Juan Soto to a lucrative contract either before or after he reaches free agency this fall.

"My takeaway was along the lines of an owner essentially crying poor who has the richest team," Rosenthal said during an appearance on the "Foul Territory" program about Steinbrenner's latest comments on Soto's future, according to Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing. "That’s a hard swallow for a lot of people."

Steinbrenner originally excited Yankees fans last week when he said during a podcast appearance he wanted Soto "here for the rest of his career." More recently, though, Steinbrenner raised eyebrows when he mentioned that the club's payroll is "not sustainable" long-term due to luxury-tax penalties.

ESPN's Buster Olney revealed during an edition of his "Baseball Tonight" podcast that it "wouldn't surprise" at least one unnamed executive if Soto received an offer in free agency worth around $550M. Soto reportedly wants to reset the market and may allow agent Scott Boras to spark a bidding war that includes big-spending New York Mets owner Steve Cohen having an opportunity to better any offer made by Steinbrenner.

Back in March, Mike Ozanian and Justin Teitelbaum of Forbes noted that the Yankees were "once again the most valuable team in baseball" and worth around $7.55B. Thus, individuals such as Rosenthal aren't buying what Steinbrenner may have been trying to sell ahead of Memorial Day.

"I understand what Hal Steinbrenner is saying," Rosenthal continued. "You don’t want the payroll in his mind to be [$350M or $400M], but for the Yankees to say they can’t sustain it… open your books, prove you can’t sustain it, because I don’t believe that for a second."

One thing that seems certain at this point is that Soto won't give the Yankees any type of discount assuming Steinbrenner and Boras engage in summer contract talks. While fans praised Steinbrenner for re-signing slugger and team captain Aaron Judge in December 2022, those same individuals likely won't tolerate the Yankees losing Soto to a different team simply because of the luxury tax.