By this time subsequent week, there’s a superb likelihood Juan Soto could have picked his vacation spot. Because the star outfielder weighs a number of presents at or above $600MM, the highest of the market waits.
A minimum of one staff is hoping for one more sit-down with Soto and agent Scott Boras. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe stories that Crimson Sox’s brass has expressed curiosity in one other assembly at which Soto’s camp would identify the worth essential to get a deal achieved. That’s an effort to keep away from being unknowingly outbid on the finish.
It appears the Sox are nervous in regards to the Mets particularly. Speier writes that Sox’s brass has heard rumors that Mets’ proprietor Steve Cohen has promised Boras that he’d beat the perfect provide made by another staff by $50MM. To be clear, Speier is not reporting on the veracity of that rumor itself. Speier is neither confirming nor denying that Cohen made such provide. The Globe’s report solely mentions that the Sox are involved sufficient that the rumor may be true that they’re hopeful of getting Soto and Boras to call a selected worth.
It’s not clear if Boras and Soto have any curiosity in doing so. There’s worth for Soto in enjoying groups’ uncertainties in opposition to one another. Relaying the specifics of each provide to every staff within the race would ultimately end in a highest bidder, nevertheless it’d additionally restrict the likelihood that one membership goes effectively past no matter is on the desk from the others.
There have seemingly been 5 official suitors for Soto: the Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Crimson Sox and Dodgers. Varied stories have solid the Dodgers as a protracted shot. The final view is that Los Angeles entered the combination largely to gauge whether or not Soto’s market may not materialize fairly the way in which he’d envisioned. With a number of groups placing $600MM+ presents on the market, that hasn’t been the case. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand wrote final night time that the Dodgers had been unlikely to land him.
Speier confirms that the Crimson Sox lately upped their provide to $600MM. The Athletic reported on Tuesday that each staff that also had an opportunity at Soto had hit or topped that mark. (That’s not essentially a declaration that each one 5 groups talked about above had supplied $600MM+, because it’s attainable he has privately narrowed the sector to exclude a number of of them.) Most observers nonetheless anticipate it to return all the way down to one of many New York franchises, although the Sox and Jays have seemingly made full-fledged pushes to get themselves within the dialog.
One large spender that made little effort on Soto: the Phillies. Matt Gelb of the Athletic stories that Philadelphia brass by no means met together with his camp. Whereas the Phils haven’t shied away from big-ticket free agent pursuits, it appears they by no means believed they’d a sensible likelihood to land Soto. Philadelphia proprietor John Middleton stated a month in the past that he felt they’d merely be used to drive up the bidding for Soto to signal with one of many New York groups (hyperlink through Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer). Whether or not or not that may’ve been the case, Gelb writes that the Phillies felt it finest to prioritize different avenues they discovered extra lifelike.
