By Ken Rosenthal, Evan Drellich and Brendan Kuty
LOS ANGELES — The floor for Juan Soto is $600 million.
The bidding for the free-agent MLB outfielder has surpassed that amount, according to two people briefed on the negotiations who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Agent Scott Boras said Tuesday at Dodger Stadium that Soto has started the process of 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 that all remaining contenders have made offers above $600 million.
The expectation within the industry is that Soto will make his decision by the end of the Winter Meetings, which begin in Dallas on Sunday, and possibly even before the meetings kick off. But Boras said he doesn’t expect an “imminent” decision.
“When you’re going through these things, he’s just got a lot of information to meld through,” Boras said Tuesday. “We’ve had meetings with a number of franchises. He’s begun the process of 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.”
Soto, 26, is on the verge of a landmark contract for two reasons: He is young for a free agent, and teams consider him a once-in-a-generation offensive talent.
His deal is expected to be for at least 12 years, and its present-day value almost certainly will beat the record Shohei Ohtani set with the Dodgers last offseason when he signed a heavily deferred 10-year, $700 million contract. Ohtani’s deal was valued at $460 million for luxury tax purposes, and $438 million by the players’ union.
Soto, in his first season with the Yankees, batted .288 with a career high 41 homers. 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 ever to do that. pic.twitter.com/RpbwuFZnJi
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) November 11, 2024
The Mets are widely regarded as the favorite for Soto, with many in the industry believing the team’s owner, Steve Cohen, will top any rival bid. But the Yankees desperately want to keep Soto as a complement to Judge, and the Red Sox have emerged as a surprising force in the negotiations. The Blue Jays and Dodgers are considered longer shots, though the Jays were willing to match the Dodgers’ bid for Ohtani last offseason, and seem to be just as intently focused on Soto.
That said, Boras was at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday for the introduction of a different client, left-hander Blake Snell, who signed a five-year deal for $182 million. Snell settled for a short-term contract last offseason, which moved slower than this year’s.
“Clubs weren’t interested. They just didn’t call,” Boras said. “The market for free agents last year started maybe in the middle of February, it was that different. People like to register that it has something to do with me — I’m just a functionary of the system. We’ve signed six, seven players already this year. These are the processes of demand and when teams and ownerships choose to move in the marketplace.”
Boras said he wasn’t sure why teams were moving 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 that they have going on is very viable, very profitable. I don’t think they like to say that, but obviously the markets indicate that there is a different attitude about what it is.
“Who’s in the market has a lot to do with things too. You have major-market franchises, you have a generational talent in the market (in Soto).”
The Dodgers’ payroll, including luxury tax projections, is around $310 million for 2025, per Cot’s Contracts. Boras was asked whether the Dodgers are attempting 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 that has anything to do with the number of trophies that hang over your stadium, I don’t think fans remember that.”
(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
