Juan Soto may be close to choosing his next team, but the bidding war surrounding the free agent slugger shows no signs of abating ahead of this week’s MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas.
As reported According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, both the Yankees and the New York Mets have made record offers to Soto in the range of $710 million to $730 million. Currently, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers has the richest contract in baseball history with his largely deferred $700 million contract.
After years of being outspent by the Yankees, the Mets now have billionaire owner Steve Cohen’s fortune at their disposal. However, the Mets must also consider their own free agent, Pete Alonso, who remains on the market after a 34-homer season in Queens.
Of course, Soto, 26, hit 41 home runs last year, along with an impressive .418 on-base percentage and a league-best 128 runs scored, all of which makes him one of the hottest free agents. coveted in baseball history. .
Soto now appears on a timeline to decide where to sign, either before or during baseball’s winter meetings in Dallas, which begin Sunday and run through Dec. 12.
Juan Soto hit 41 home runs last year and had an impressive .418 on-base percentage.
Soto has met with the Yankees, Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, a person familiar with the negotiations said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no details were announced.
Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, asked teams to submit initial offers before Thanksgiving and says Soto has begun eliminating clubs from consideration.
“He just has a lot of information to combine,” Boras said Tuesday after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ news conference to introduce Blake Snell, another of his clients. ‘Juan is a very methodical thinker.’
Soto is the best player available among this year’s free agents. Soto, a four-time All-Star, finished third in American League Most Valuable Player voting after hitting .288 with 41 home runs, 109 RBIs and 129 walks. He has a career average of .285 with 201 home runs, 592 runs batted in and 769 walks in seven major league seasons.
Soto turned down an offer from Washington for a 15-year, $440 million deal in 2022, prompting the Nationals to trade him to San Diego, which then traded him to the Yankees last December. Soto then combined with Aaron Judge to lead New York to the World Series, where the Yankees lost to the Dodgers.
In his address to the teams, Boras noted that Soto joined Mickey Mantle as the only players with seven RBIs in a World Series at age 21 or younger when he was with Washington, and at 20 he became the youngest player with five home runs in the postseason. Soto’s .906 postseason OPS through age 25 surpassed Mantle (.900) and Derek Jeter (.852).
Soto is likely seeking a record contract, surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December. However, that might not mean Soto receives more than $700 million. Because Ohtani’s deal included $680 million in deferred money payable through 2043, it can be valued using different methods.
For example, Ohtani’s contract is valued at $46.1 million per season ($461 million total) under MLB’s luxury tax system, which uses a 4.43 percent discount rate. The players association uses a rate of 5 percent, which puts Ohtani’s contract at $43.8 million per year. For regular MLB payroll calculations, a 10 percent discount rate values Ohtani’s deal at just $28.2 million.
Agent Scott Boras (left) speaks with his client, Juan Soto, during the 2024 World Series.
Which means that if Soto receives even $462 million with no deferred payments, there’s an argument that his deal is the most valuable in MLB history.
By average annual value, pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are tied for second in baseball history with $43.33 million as part of contracts they signed with the New York Mets, deals that expired at the end of the 2024 season. .
In terms of total value, Ohtani surpassed outfielder Mike Trout’s 12-year, $426.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels through 2030.
The longest MLB contract is outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.’s 14-year contract with the San Diego Padres through 2034.
Soto is likely to pursue a record deal, surpassing Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal.
The Mets, Yankees, Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies are likely to enter 2025 having paid the luxury tax for three consecutive years, putting them at the highest rate: a 50 percent surcharge on payroll among $241 million and $261 million, 62 percent from $261 million. to $281 million, 95 percent from $281 million to $301 million, and 110 percent for every dollar above $301 million.
Toronto may have fallen below the initial tax threshold this year, pending final figures next month. If the Blue Jays fell below, their rates next year would reset to 20 percent, 32 percent, 62.5 percent and 80 percent for the four thresholds.
If Soto reaches or announces a deal at the winter meetings at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, it would be a familiar location for a big deal with Boras.
Alex Rodriguez’s record $252 million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers was announced in December 2000 at what was then called the Wyndham Anatole Hotel. A-Rod’s deal more than doubled the previous MLB record, an eight-year, $121 million deal between pitcher Mike Hampton and Colorado that was announced just two days earlier.
“In two days, we’ve doubled a new higher salary,” said Sandy Alderson, then executive vice president of the commissioner’s office. “I don’t like the exponentiality of that.”
Rodríguez was 25 years old at the time of the deal with Texas, and was a free agent before entering his prime, like Soto.
Third baseman Alex Bregman, first basemen Pete Alonso and Christian Walker, and outfielders Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernández are among the big bats available to pursue and would likely interest some of the teams that fail to land Soto.
Bregman and Alonso, like Soto, are represented by Boras.