The listing of recognized groups who’ve upcoming conferences with Juan Soto and agent Scott Boras continues to develop. ESPN’s Jeff Passan stories that each the Blue Jays and Crimson Sox are set to fulfill with Soto and his consultant this week. They’ll be part of Mets and Yankees in that regard. Passan provides that the Jays are “critical about including a star” to the lineup alongside Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Soto unsurprisingly tops their wishlist.
Equally, the New York Put up’s Jon Heyman paints the Jays as a authentic contender within the Soto bidding. Toronto was famously keen to place forth the identical provide that the Dodgers did to lure Shohei Ohtani to Los Angeles final winter, and Heyman provides that the Jays tried to commerce for Soto final winter as nicely earlier than the Yankees in the end acquired him from the Padres. Each stories peg Toronto as a motivated purchaser on the heels of a disastrous 2024 season that noticed them end within the AL East cellar.
From a payroll vantage level, the Jays ought to have a transparent path to creating a compelling provide. Jose Berrios and Yariel Rodriguez are the one gamers the Blue Jays have signed past the 2026 season — the latter by no means incomes greater than $8MM yearly. RosterResource tasks Toronto’s 2025 payroll at round $197MM in the mean time — methods shy of final yr’s franchise-record $225MM Opening Day mark. That projected quantity may drop even additional with a number of non-tender/commerce candidates nonetheless on the roster (e.g. Dillon Tate, Erik Swanson, Jordan Romano, Zach Pop). By 2026, the Blue Jays have beneath $75MM in ensures on the books.
Toronto, in fact, hopes to increase the aforementioned Guerrero and would wish an enormous provide to take action, however a long-term payroll ledger with Soto and Guerrero appears lots doable given the shortage of different commitments. Shortstop Bo Bichette might be one other extension candidate, however he’s a tricky case for a long-term deal after an injury-shortened season that included career-worst manufacturing on the plate. On the very least, it’s simple to see how the Blue Jays may make an aggressive push and aggressive bid for Soto, as they did with Ohtani.
That’s typically true of the Crimson Sox as nicely, although their short-term books aren’t fairly so clear. Rafael Devers, Brayan Bello and Ceddanne Rafaela are the one gamers signed really long-term in Boston, however the Crimson Sox will nonetheless be paying Masataka Yoshida and Trevor Story notable salaries by way of the 2027 season a minimum of. That mentioned, the Sox have a a lot smaller arbitration class and don’t have the specter of a famous person’s potential departure hanging over them, because the Jays do with Guerrero. They’re projected for a payroll round $136MM in 2025 (once more, through RosterResource) — modest relative to their franchise-record spending ranges.
That mentioned, the Crimson Sox have curbed spending in latest seasons. They did open the 2022 season with a $206MM payroll however have in any other case spent within the $170-180MM vary since 2020. Again in 2018, after they final gained a World Collection, the Sox opened the season at $233MM. They adopted with a $236MM in 2019 (each figures through Cot’s). Signing Soto would require a willingness to return to these 2018-19 ranges — if not exceed them — however there are some alerts the group is keen to do exactly that.
Crimson Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has been vocal about his intention of “ship[ing] the workforce that’s able to successful the AL East and making a deep playoff run,” including that the Sox should be keen to be huge gamers within the free agent and commerce markets so as to take action. Skeptics will name again to chairman Tom Werner’s regrettable and oft-mocked “full throttle” feedback from an offseason in the past, however Breslow has taken a extra direct and repeated stance on his intent to be lively in each markets.
The Sox have a number of areas they’ll want to focus on, nevertheless, as Breslow has additionally voiced his intent to “increase the ceiling” within the rotation. (They’ve additionally been linked to Max Fried, additional lending credence to the concept they’re keen to spend this winter.) Soto gained’t accomplish that particular purpose, nor will he assist to stability out a closely left-handed lineup (one other of Breslow’s acknowledged goals), however that’s of little consequence. Free brokers as younger and impactful as Soto solely come round each few many years; including him to the lineup is an endeavor distinctive unto itself, and the remainder of a workforce’s given targets can take a backseat to such a uncommon pursuit.
