Teams expected to make offers to Juan Soto this week

The sweepstakes to land superstar free agent Juan Soto is set to enter its next phase, as ESPN’s Buster Olney reported Sunday afternoon that teams are expected to begin sending offers to the outfielder’s camp this week. Olney adds that to this point in the process, Soto has been meeting with teams and allowing Soto and the officials of interested clubs to get to know each other. 

The Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Dodgers and Phillies are all known to have met with Soto at this point. The Giants, Rays and Royals are all known to be among the teams to have reached out to Soto as well, though no meetings between Soto and any of those clubs are publicly known to have occurred. The Royals already reportedly view the offseason’s top free agent as outside of their comfort zone.

Of course, that aforementioned list of teams is surely not exhaustive. As-of-yet unreported clubs have surely contacted and perhaps even met with Soto as he prepares to sign what figures to be the largest contract in MLB history in terms of net present value this winter. 

As a two-time MVP finalist and career .285/.421/.532 hitter who’s hitting the market ahead of his age-26 season, Soto stands as the rare free agent who would make sense for virtually any contention timeline and stand as an upgrade to all 30 ball clubs, leaving his market to be limited more by teams’ willingness to spend enough to land him rather than positional or competitive fit.

The consensus around the game seems to be that the Yankees and Mets are the favorites for Soto’s services. Both deep-pocketed New York teams appear motivated as the Yankees look to retain their key addition from last offseason, who helped take the club from missing the playoffs in 2023 to an AL pennant this past season, while the Mets hope to build on a 2024 campaign that saw them reach the NLCS for the first time since 2015. 

Soto naturally has a place in the Yankees lineup as their incumbent right fielder, though he might make even more sense for a Mets club that could push Starling Marte to DH to accommodate the addition of Soto given the fact that the acquisition of Soto forced the Yankees to use Aaron Judge as their everyday center fielder last year.

That doesn’t mean the other teams in the mix should be counted out, however. The Phillies and Dodgers both already need outfield help this winter and could further bolster the already excellent lineups that made them the class of the NL this year by landing Soto. 

The Blue Jays figure to be especially motivated after falling just short in last winter’s Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes and subsequently missing the playoffs in 2024, while the Red Sox appear ready to resume spending following their market size this winter after spending the past several winters on the periphery of free agency. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a look at all 30 clubs in the context of the Soto sweepstakes of Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

While Soto has emphasized the importance of team competitiveness in his decision-making, and there have been questions about whether he may prefer a team on the East Coast given his offseason homes in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the Dominican Republic, the ultimate factor that figures to separate Soto’s suitors is money. 

With offers expected to be made over the next week, it’s possible that previously unknown suitors emerge as contenders for the star’s services or currently reported upon suitors fall behind in the bidding process. 

It’s also possible that the process begins to move quickly once offers begin to roll in; MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported earlier this week that the belief around the game is that Soto could sign during or even before the Winter Meetings, which run from Dec. 9-12 in Dallas.