Juan Soto receives a qualifying offer from the Yankees

NEW YORK – The Yankees extended a qualifying offer to Juan Soto on Monday ahead of the 5 p.m. ET deadline. This move ensures that the club will receive a compensatory pick in next year’s MLB Draft if the outfielder signs with another club.

Soto is certain to decline the qualifying offer, which is worth $21.05 million. That would represent a pay cut from the $31 million he earned with the Yankees last season and is well short of a potentially record-breaking contract he may seek in free agency.

Soto had a .288/.419/.569 slash line in 157 regular season games last season and set career highs in runs (128), hits (166), home runs (41), total bases (328). and on extra-base hits (76).

“I don’t know what teams want to come after me, but I will definitely be open to this team and every single team,” Soto said. “I didn’t close any doors or anything like that. I will be available to all 30 teams.”

Speaking to reporters at the general managers meeting in San Antonio, Texas, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said the club is also considering extending a qualifying offer to second baseman Gleyber Torres.

“We definitely had discussions about whether or not we should do this,” Cashman said. “We have a job to evaluate everything and ultimately we decided against it and now he is a free agent. We will of course see what the future brings.”

Torres, who turns 28 in December, salvaged his season with a strong second half that allowed him to finish with a slash line of .257/.330/.378. In 154 games, Torres scored 80 runs and collected 26 doubles, 15 home runs, 63 RBIs and 65 walks.

“He was great for us in the second half and represented more of the type of player we know him to be,” Cashman said. “He swung the club so well, especially down the stretch [one of the reasons] why we’ve come this far.”