This Red Sox Rival Expected To Make Juan Soto Free Agent Push

Juan Soto’s focus remains on trying to deliver the Yankees a World Series championship, but the all-world slugger also knows he’s about to get paid.

Soto’s contract runs up at the end of the season, and when it does, he’ll become one of the biggest free agents of all time. The 26-year-old is just entering his prime and will hit the market at the perfect time coming off the best season of his young career. Soto was an eight-win player (wins above replacement) in 2024, hitting .288 with a career-high 41 home runs and 109 RBIs for New York.

Soto (and agent Scott Boras) will command a hefty chunk of change. Keep in mind, this guy turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Washington Nationals in 2022 with eyes on free agency. Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal might be a better comparison.

There aren’t a lot of teams that will be able to (or want to) pony up that sort of money. According to reports, the market is already taking shape based on that and speculation. The incumbent Yankees are obviously a contender. The New York Mets are also expected to be in the running. Perhaps a return to D.C. is in the cards if Washington wants to get weird. According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, the Los Angeles Dodgers are interested, too.

Tucked into Heyman’s story about Soto’s impending free agency was this: “Yankees people see the Mets (and maybe the Blue Jays) as the real threat in the Soto derby … “

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale also mentioned the Blue Jays as a possibility in a story he wrote.

Toronto is still probably a long shot compared to the other teams largely because, well, it’s the Blue Jays. That being said, the Jays made an earnest effort to sign Ohtani last winter. Toronto, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, also had the seven-year, $700 million offer on the table for the dual-threat phenom.

Ultimately, the inclusion of Toronto in these sorts of reports might be an attempt to drive up the price. It’s a page out of Boras’ playbook. But if they’re willing to go as high as they did for Ohtani, the Soto camp would have to listen. It helps that the Blue Jays have money coming off the books in the next two years, and a deferral similar to Ohtani could further help.

There’s still plenty of time before Soto has to make that decision. For now, he’s worried about getting the Yankees out of an 0-2 hole to the Dodgers in the World Series. Their next chance to do so comes Monday night in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium.