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Jeff Passan makes wild Yankees Ben Rice-Juan Soto claim amid hot start
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As New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler has been praised for being one of the team's young and shining stars who could be a piece for the future, another on the offensive side is Ben Rice . While the Yankees will continue to develop Schlittler and Rice, Jeff Passan would make an interesting comment regarding Rice and New York Mets star Juan Soto .
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Speaking with Sportsnet 590n The FAN, Passan would be asked about Rice and how real this current experience is with the 27-year-old, who is currently batting a .327 batting average to go along with 10 homeruns and 23 RBIs. Passan would not only say that Rice is legit, but that he is giving New York more value right now on a minimum salary than if the team were paying Soto $60 million a year.
"100 percent very real," Passan said. "I say that as confidently as I do because the underlying data just supports it. Let's not mistake that this came out of nowhere. The guy slugged .500 over a full season last year. He was really good last year. Is he this good? No, of course not. But is he an All-Star? Yes. Is he going to be doing this for years to come? Yes. Is he a guy who, at the minimum salary you might rather have in the lineup, instead of paying Juan Soto $60 million a year, you sure can make a decent argument about that."
Jeff Passan praises the Yankees' developmental system
Passan would continue speaking on how that $60 million that Soto could cost for the Yankees could be better used in other areas to improve the team, with Rice giving more production at this point in time.
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"If you can take the $60 million and go and spread it out elsewhere, and you're getting 90 percent of the production, and right now, even more production than you do with Soto. Ben Rice, what a find…the Yankees player development process right now is really working, and that is a scary thing for the rest of the American League," Passan said Thursday.
It remains to be seen how Rice progresses throughout the season,
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