Juan Soto is probably the most coveted free agent of the 2024-25 offseason and one of the crucial alluring free brokers ever. He’s in line to signal one of many largest contracts Main League Baseball has ever seen, and he seemingly is ready to do it quickly. The Yankees, Mets, Pink Sox, Blue Jays and Dodgers are reportedly the 5 finalists for Soto’s service, and the celebrity slugger may very nicely conform to phrases with a type of groups earlier than MLB’s Winter Conferences kick off in earnest on Monday in Dallas.
Bids have reportedly already surpassed $700 million, which might beat Shohei Ohtani for the biggest contract in MLB historical past. Ohtani signed a closely deferred 10-year, $700 million take care of the Dodgers final winter.
Soto, 26, produced at an exceptionally excessive stage in each season of his MLB profession. That sustained excellence in tandem together with his youth means Soto could be very probably going to proceed churning out MVP-caliber numbers for years to return. He is coming off a 2024 marketing campaign for the New York Yankees — who acquired him on Dec. 6, 2023 in a commerce with the Padres — during which he put up a 178 OPS+ with 41 residence runs in 157 video games and extra walks than strikeouts.
These lofty numbers aren’t out of step with the remainder of Soto’s profession. He is an on-base machine, and he has a uncommon mix of batted-ball authority and plate self-discipline. He is a generational expertise within the truest sense of the time period, and he is about to be paid prefer it. Any studying of the tea leaves lands on the Yankees and Mets as co-favorites.
To maintain you in control on how the Soto negotiations progress by way of the ultimate phases — and possibly even convey us a plot twist or two — we’re right here to give you each little bit of credible scuttle and rumors that drop between now and the time Soto involves phrases together with his workforce of selection. Comply with alongside beneath.
