The “Juan Soto sweepstakes” practically control the pace of the entire free agency period this winter. Let me explain.
All the expected top spending teams — the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox — are all aggressively pursuing Soto, with $650 million contracts expected to be offered.
These teams will also all be involved in the free agency of Pete Alonso, Corbin Burnes, Christian Walker, Tanner Scott, Blake Snell, and Willy Adames. But Soto trumps all of these players and whoever signs Soto won’t have the money to offer the other top players a contract.
So basically, to state it simply, Soto’s free agency determines when the rest of free agency will actually begin. And MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand has revealed when he expects Soto to be signed with his new team.
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“The Juan Soto sweepstakes are in full swing, and while no conclusion is expected before Thanksgiving, the feeling around the industry is that the slugger could make his decision prior to the Winter Meetings, which get underway on Dec. 9 in Dallas,” Feinsand wrote.
That gives teams just 21 days to make their pitch to Soto. Twenty-one days to decide where Soto will spend the next 10-15 years of his career playing baseball. No pressure.
Once the Soto domino falls, the rest should quickly fall as well. Whoever lands Soto will be left to add smaller pieces while the other top teams that were after him will be scrambling to land players like Burnes and Alonso.
If you’re bored with free agency right now, that’s okay. Give it a few weeks and you probably won’t be able to keep up with all the signings.
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