Other than the Los Angeles Angels signing a few free agents and Blake Snell agreeing to a new deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a nice Wednesday night news dump, free agency is going relatively slowly.
Those expecting Juan Soto news are watching everything unfold in a seemingly three-phase sequence of meetings, offers and increased offers.
The chase for Soto’s services seems bigger than the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes a year ago because of the teams involved. Ohtani was linked to the Toronto Blue Jays in some degree that included tracking a plane he may or may not have been a passenger but seemingly was destined to join the Dodgers in a deal that was announced on the second Saturday of December, immediately after the annual convention known as the winter meetings wrapped up.
The similarities are in the money which for the Yankees involve significantly more than it took to retain Aaron Judge after his historic 62-homer season in 2022. Judge wound up with a nine-year, $360 million deal to stay with the Yankees in the final weeks of a calendar year that saw Soto reject a $440 million overture from the Washington Nationals.
Nowadays Judge is coming off 58 homers and a second MVP. He also is part of the recruiting contingent with managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner in the attempts to keep the duo intact after the sluggers combined for 99 of their 237 homers. Judge’s role is not meeting with Soto directly but giving Steinbrenner advice and strategy while working behind the scenes to make sure to re-signing occurs.
We discussed a lot of things, from Juan to other guys that are out there that I think could definitely help this team,” Judge said last week during a conference call after winning the MVP. “I just gave my input on a couple things.”
Giving input on a couple of things likely meant Judge told his boss not to worry is Soto winds up being paid significantly more, which is what anyone would expect the 32-year-old to say.
“Honestly, it ain’t my money,” Judge said on that conference call. “I really don’t care as long as we get the best players. That’s never been something on my mind about who gets paid the most. Whatever we can do to get the best players, I’ll take it. That’s what it kind of comes down to.”
New York Yankees’ Juan Soto watches his three-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during … [+]
Players on other teams are likely saying the same things about chances to get Soto. Soto has taken meetings with the Blue Jays, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Mets and Dodgers to name a few and each offers a different pitch ahead of whatever the contract presentation looks like.
For the Red Sox, they are trying to sell Soto to join forces with Gerrit Cole-killer Rafael Devers and create more possible bizarre situations as the intentional walk on Sept. 14. They are also deploying David Ortiz to sell Soto on the team’s history of notable players from the Dominican Republic that includes Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez while also selling the appeal of the Green Monster.
The Mets are trying to convince Soto he can still enjoy New York but also do it on the other side of town and pair himself with Francisco Lindor in the midst of a $341 million deal and work for the richest owner in the sport in Steve Cohen. They are also trying to sell him on last year’s 89-win season and run to the NLCS as the start of something sustainable as opposed to 2006 and 2015.
The Blue Jays are considered a darkhorse contender for Soto’s services but also are being mentioned to increase the size of the offer from the Yankees, which is a typical negotiation tactic. Even if Toronto makes an offer that comes close to Soto’s financial criteria, there is the winning issue.
The Blue Jays have yet to get past the ALDS in the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. era and took a massive step back to 74 wins after their 2023 season ended with a whimper in the wild-card round amidst a controversial decision to lift Jose Berrios following 47 pitches.
As for the Dodgers as anyone is witnessing, money is no object and adding another superstar to join a star-studded cast whose role players like to discuss the Yankee flaws is hardly a big deal. Even with a willingness to pursue him does the Dodger checkbook possess any limits and it might be one of those things where they do the pursuit to a certain amount before bowing out and deferring (not to be confused with Ohtani and Snell’s contract) to other teams.
Either way, the big reality show known as the Soto bidding war is about to pick up steam with a possible resolution in the next few weeks.
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