By Ken Rosenthal, Evan Drellich and Brendan Kuty
LOS ANGELES – The floor for Juan Soto is $600 million.
The offer for the free-agent MLB outfielder has exceeded that amount, according to two people briefed on the negotiations who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Officer Scott Boras said Tuesday at Dodger Stadium that Soto has begun eliminating potential landing spots, but did not specify which ones.
The clubs publicly known to be most serious about Soto are the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. The two people briefed on the negotiations said all remaining contenders submitted bids of more than $600 million.
The industry expectation is that Soto will make his decision at the end of the Winter Meetings, which begin Sunday in Dallas, and possibly even before the meetings begin. But Boras said he doesn’t expect an “imminent” decision.
“When you go through these things, he just has a lot of information to process,” Boras said Tuesday. “We have had discussions with a number of franchises. He’s started eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll see, but I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.”
The 26-year-old Soto is on the cusp of a game-changing signing for two reasons: He’s young for a free agent, and teams view him as a once-in-a-generation offensive talent.
His deal is expected to be for at least 12 years, and its current value will almost certainly break the record Shohei Ohtani set with the Dodgers last season when he signed a heavily delayed 10-year contract worth $700 million. Ohtani’s deal was appreciated at $460 million for luxury tax purposes, and $438 million by the players’ union.
Soto hit .288 with a career-high 41 home runs in his first season with the Yankees. His .989 OPS ranked third in the majors behind Aaron Judge and Ohtani, and he finished third in American League MVP voting
Juan Soto has walked at least 129 times in 4 consecutive seasons. Barry Bonds is the only other MLB player to ever do that. pic.twitter.com/RpbwuFZnJi
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) November 11, 2024
The Mets are widely considered the favorite for Soto, with many in the industry believing the team’s owner, Steve Cohen, will outbid any rival offer. But the Yankees are desperate to keep Soto to complement Judge, and the Red Sox have emerged as a surprise force in the negotiations. The Blue Jays and Dodgers are considered longer shots, although the Jays were willing to match the Dodgers’ bid for Ohtani last season and appear to be just as intently focused on Soto.
That said, Boras was at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday for the introduction of another signing, left-hander Blake Snell, who signed a five-year, $182 million contract. Snell settled for a short-term contract last season, which progressed more slowly than this year’s.
“Clubs were not interested. They just didn’t call,” Boras said. “The free agent market last year started maybe mid-February, that’s how different it was. People like to let you know that it has something to do with me; I’m just an official of the system. We have already signed six or seven players this year. These are the processes of demand and when teams and owners choose to move in the market.”
Boras said he wasn’t sure why teams moved faster this year, but pointed to MLB’s future plans for local media rights as one reason.
“I wish I could answer those questions, I do,” Boras said. “I think a lot of it has to do with media certainty. … This streaming thing they’re doing is very viable, very profitable. I don’t think they like to say that, but the markets are clearly indicating that there is a different attitude about what it is.
“Whoever is on the market also has a lot to do with things. You have franchises in the big market, you have generational talent in the market (in Soto).”
The Dodgers’ payroll, including luxury tax projections, is about $310 million per year through 2025 Crib contracts. Boras was asked if the Dodgers are trying to buy championships, and he invoked the team Soto played for last season, the Yankees.
“I would say that, as George … Steinbrenner said, whatever you do to compete, the fact that I can compete in a different way than others, so be it,” Boras said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with the number of trophies hanging above your stadium. I don’t think fans remember that.”
(Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)