Three weeks into this MLB offseason, two questions dominate the discussion across the sport: Which team will sign Juan Soto? And for how much? The Soto sweepstakes are heating up. Five teams — the Mets , Yankees , Dodgers , Red Sox and Blue Jays — have met with Soto and his agent, Scott Boras , to make their initial pitches. A sixth team, the Phillies , is expected to sit down with Soto soon, and more could follow.
Advertisement The teams know they have a chance to sign a generational player who is just entering his prime. They also know it’ll cost them. Soto’s contract is expected to break records in terms of both average annual value and present-day value (as calculated for luxury tax purposes), but not surpass the total amount of Shohei Ohtani ’s heavily deferred 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers from last offseason.
Sources with the involved teams believe the Soto contract will end up being $550 million to $650 million, depending on the structure of the deal, and 10 to 15 years, depending on luxury tax impact and other factors that could benefit the team in terms of length. (For comparison’s sake, keep in mind Ohtani’s $700 million deal had a net present value of $460 million for luxury tax purposes because of all the deferrals. The next largest contracts in MLB history were Mike Trout at $426 million, Mookie Betts at $365 million and Aaron Judge at $360 million.
) I predicted a 15-year, $622 million contract when I finalized my top free agent ranki.
