Teams vying for the services of star free agent outfielder Juan Soto were expected to submit their preliminary contract offers this week, a league source told The Athletic on Tuesday morning. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The offers were expected to separate serious suitors from wishful thinkers, with perhaps a second, more serious round to follow next week. Soto’s camp could be looking toward deciding sometime around the Winter Meetings, which begin Dec. 8 in Dallas.
To this point, the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers each have met with the Dominican Republic native and agent Scott Boras near the Boras Corp headquarters in Newport Beach, Calif.
Offers for Juan Soto are expected to go through multiple rounds, a league source tells @TheAthletic. The first round is expected to be “preliminary,” meant to gauge genuine interest from all parties. The following offers/rounds, which could start around next week, are (cont …)
— Brendan Kuty 🧟♂️ (@BrendanKutyNJ) November 26, 2024
Soto is almost universally considered the best available player on the market, with many expecting a record contract. The Athletic’s Tim Britton projected that he could land a deal worth $611 million over 13 years. Last season, Soto made a salary-arbitration record $31 million with the Yankees. Still only 26 years old, Soto offers a blend of youth and pure hitting ability very rarely seen in free agency.
It’s unclear whether Soto will require further in-person meetings with potential suitors.
This season, Soto finished third in the American League MVP race behind unanimous winner Aaron Judge and second-place finisher Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals. Hitting directly behind Judge in the Yankees’ lineup, Soto posted a career-best 41 home runs and 128 runs scored. He hit .288 with 109 RBIs, 129 walks and a .989 OPS. He was also a finalist for an AL Gold Glove as a right fielder. In the postseason, he hit .327 with four home runs, helping New York reach the World Series for the first time since 2009.
In 2022, Soto rejected a 15-year, $440-million contract extension from the Washington Nationals, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The Nationals then traded him to the San Diego Padres, who then dealt him to the Yankees last offseason.
“I’m really happy with the city, with the team, but at the end of the day we will see,” Soto said after the Yankees lost in Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 30. “We’re going to look at every situation, every offer that we get. I don’t know what teams want to come after me, but definitely I’ll be open to listen to every single team. I don’t have any doors closed or anything like that, so we’re going to be available for all 30 teams.”
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
