The New York Yankees got to live the Juan Soto experience for a year, and they loved it — every minute of it. They liked it so much that they want to extend it for 12-14 more years and are willing to pay top dollar to make sure that happens.
The problem is that other teams want him, too, and he is now free to sign with any organization of his liking. Soto currently has four scheduled meetings: one with the Yankees, one with the New York Mets, and one with two AL East rivals — the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Red Sox and Blue Jays are driving up Juan Soto’s price tag
Both the Red Sox and Jays can definitely use a guy like Soto: a young stud with 40-homer power, legendary plate discipline, and a huge postseason track record.
Both squads have the drive and the money to pursue Soto. However, they might also be motivated by the fact they could elevate the player’s final contract for the Yankees, their bitter division rivals, thus taking away some of the flexibility they might have to bring in other free agents or absorb contracts via trade.
The Yankees might pay a steep price for Soto
“The Jays and Red Sox are in the Soto talks to drive up the price on the NY Teams”, was the topic being discussed at MLB Radio.
Surely, Boston and Toronto would enjoy having a guy like Soto and they have the means to afford it. The Jays were finalists for Shohei Ohtani just a year ago and want to make a splash, and Boston is ready to spend again. However, even if the player signs for the Yankees, they would probably find solace in the fact that they would have paid much more than they felt comfortable paying thanks to both AL East rivals being in the race.
It’s how the game works, and there is nothing wrong with it. As far as the Jays and Red Sox are concerned, they are trying to sign a top free agent. Everything else is just speculation.
