Five teams offer Juan Soto a contract, including the Blue Jays

Soto is easily the best player on the free agent market. Last season with the Yankees, the 26-year-old slashed .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 home runs in 713 plate appearances. He also walked (18.1%) more than he struck out (16.7%) and finished with a 180 wRC+ and an 8.1 fWAR, the latter being a career-high.

The most shocking team to offer Soto a contract is the Dodgers, the reigning World Series champions. They beat Soto and the Yankees in the World Series, and they just dished out over $1.4 billion, with a “b”, last off-season for Teoscar Hernández, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shohei Ohtani.

Last off-season, the Blue Jays were also believed to be a finalist for Ohtani’s services before he signed with the Dodgers. Our favourite team’s interest in Soto is to be expected, as they need a superstar bat to play alongside Vladimir Guerrero Jr. On top of acquiring one of the best hitters in the sport, the Blue Jays would solve the need for a power bat in the outfield. The Jays are seen as a dark horse to sign the 26-year-old.

Still, the Mets appear to be the favourites to sign Soto, as owner Steve Cohen has deep pockets to get a deal done. The Yankees will always have a shot to sign him, especially as he went to the World Series with them. Lastly, the Red Sox are sleepers to sign him, as they have a deep farm system that they could use to bolster the big league roster alongside Soto.

With all that being said, it’s unclear when Soto’s deal will be completed and what team he’ll sign with. It’s believed that Soto will sign by the end of the Winter Meetings on December 12.

me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.