Yankees Rumors: NYY Willing to Top $300M Payroll for Juan Soto, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The New York Yankees are willing to top $300 million in payroll to land San Diego Padres outfielder Juan Soto and Nippon Professional Baseball ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, per SNY's Andy Martino, who cited "sources familiar with owner Hal Steinbrenner's thinking."

"The Yankees had a payroll in the low $290 millions last year -- second-highest in MLB after the Mets -- and are estimated to be at more than $250 million for 2024 without adding Soto or Yamamoto," Martino wrote.

"Those two alone will cost at least $30 million each before accounting for any other acquisitions, and clubs like to set aside another $10-15 million for the trade deadline."

It's no secret that the Yankees strongly covet both players, to the point where YES Network's Jack Curry even said on Tuesday evening that a Soto trade is likely.

As for Yamamoto, MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported that the Yankees are scheduled to meet with him Monday in the United States. New York is "one of the top candidates," but the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs are also in the mix.

The Yankees need to make significant moves after an 82-80 season, which marked their worst winning percentage since 1992. They have cornerstone players in Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole, but those two largely carried the team for much of a disappointing campaign.

Soto and Yamamoto would certainly help the ballclub. The 25-year-old Soto is a three-time All-Star who has smacked 160 home runs and posted a .946 OPS through six seasons. The 25-year-old Yamamoto is a three-time Pacific League Most Valuable Player and three-time Triple Crown winner. He went 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA in 164 innings last season.

They would be the wingmen to lead this team alongside Judge and Cole as the Yankees look to make (and win) the World Series for the first time in 15 years.

We'll see if that comes to fruition, but at this point, it's clear the Yankees don't have any concerns about significantly raising payroll when it comes to adding these two players.