It was previously said that Juan Soto would make his free-agency decision by the time the MLB winter meetings, scheduled to begin this coming Monday, conclude next week.
Fans may not have to wait that long to learn where Soto will play home games in 2025.
“The expectation is that there will be meetings over the weekend and it’s at that point Juan Soto will decide where he’s going to go and we will know, at latest, by the time the winter meetings in Dallas start,” ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan revealed during a “SportsCenter” segment on Wednesday evening, as shared by Kaley Brown of Boston.com.
Passan acknowledged that “we don’t know who the favorites are” in the Soto sweepstakes. The All-Star outfielder has routinely been linked with a return to the New York Yankees and also with the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s believed Soto’s deal could be worth between $600M-$700M and could even exceed $700M if bidding continues through this weekend.
Updates from earlier this week suggested the Red Sox and Blue Jays were prepared to outbid the other would-be buyers for Soto’s services. However, The Athletic reported on Tuesday that “the Mets are widely regarded as the favorite for Soto, with many in the industry believing the team’s owner, Steve Cohen, will top any rival bid.“
Cohen reportedly is “willing to go $50M over whatever anybody offers” to sign Soto.
“If teams are willing to go to, say, 15 years, which they might be able to because Juan Soto is only 26, we could see a contract, potentially, in excess of $700M,” Passan added. “Now remember, Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700M deal last offseason set the standard.”
The deal Ohtani received from the Dodgers last offseason was worth $700M over 10 years but included $680M in deferred money. Per multiple reports, Soto
isn’t interested in deferred money.
“Teams engaged in a third round of Soto bidding this week, and while no deal is imminent, one could materialize before the winter meetings officially begin Monday,” Passan added in an ESPN story published early Thursday morning. “Wherever he goes, the contract is expected to set records for length and potentially overall value.”
Meanwhile, fellow insider Buster Olney said in that article that “it does not seem out of the realm of possibility that the broad strokes of [Soto’s] deal could be something in the range of $750M over 15 years.”
These types of situations can change seemingly in an instant, but it sounds like Soto could make MLB contract history before the next workweek begins.
