Subscribe
Follow Us
New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto is the top free agent available this offseason — by a mile. So it's no surprise that the list of teams interested in his services keeps growing. The Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, and Tampa Bay Rays could all still meet with the free agent slugger, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
The Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and New York Mets have already met with Soto, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to make their pitch sometime this week. Out of the trio of new teams in on Soto, the Rays are considered the long-shot. That's especially true now that they will play their 2025 home games at Steinbrenner Field, the Spring Training home of the Yankees, while Tropicana Field undergoes repairs for the damage it incurred during Hurricane Milton.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post confirmed on Tuesday that the Phillies plan to meet with Soto, adding in a post via X that “not many teams want to win more than they do.”
The Phillies already have over $220 million in payroll allocated for next year, with Cy Young candidate Zack Wheeler ($42 million) and two-time MVP Bryce Harper ($27.5 million) commanding nearly a third of that. But the Phillies won 95 games in 2024 and the National League East for the first time since 2011. They're not far from fielding a championship team and adding a superstar like Soto would surely catapult them into favorite status.
Even with the Phillies involved, the Yankees and Mets remain favorites to land Juan Soto
The Soto Sweepstakes probably won't reach a resolution anytime soon as the Scott Boras client patiently waits to hear out anybody willing to pitch to him. But the Yankees and Mets have long been believed to be favorites, and one American League executive confirmed as much to Feinsand.
“It’s the Yankees or the Mets,” they told him. “He knows the Yankees well after spending a year there, and Steve Cohen has enough money to give him whatever he wants if he decides he wants him badly enough. It’s tough for me to see Soto winding up anywhere else.”
As Feinsand points out, the Yankees and Mets both have a ton of money coming off the books this offseason. Even not taking into account Soto's $31 million 2024 salary, the Yankees have around $50 million freed up. That pales in comparison to the Mets, who have Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer coming off the books, helping total more than $180 million saved from last year. And, as the American League executive pointed out, they have arguably the most aggressive and willing-to-spend front office in the game.
