Yankees ‘fear’ Red Sox will sign Juan Soto; Mets still looking to land the superstar
It appears the Juan Soto sweepstakes are down to two teams: the Red Sox and Mets, according to NJ.com’s Randy Miller, who appeared on WFAN Saturday.
“I think the Mets are definitely in play and the Red Sox are in play,” said Miller. “And I don’t think he’s going to the Yankees.”
The Yankees have reportedly recently increased their offer to Soto, in a sign that they’re taking the Red Sox and Mets interest seriously.
Boston entered the offseason as a potential longshot to land Soto. Despite that, the Red Sox have been the opposite, pushing hard for the generational superstar.
“I’m hearing the Yankees fear the Red Sox more than anyone else,” said Miller.
According to Miller, the Yankees aren’t prepared to go higher than $550 million for Soto, who spent last season in the Bronx. He thinks the Mets and Red Sox have $600 million-plus offers to Soto.
Even with the rumors swirling that the Red Sox are aggressively trying to sign Soto, the Mets are still lurking with Steve Cohen’s massive checkbook. According to Andy McCollough of The Athletic, he still thinks Soto is going to join the Mets in Queens.
“Scott Boras referred to Soto as ‘the Mona Lisa of the museum.’ Steve Cohen is baseball’s most prolific art collector,” McCullough wrote on November 29 in The Athletic. “We looked like knuckleheads last year when our galaxy-brained take on Shohei Ohtani led us to forecasting him joining the Texas Rangers. No need to complicate things. Cohen has the deepest pockets. He will dip into them to sign Soto to the richest (present-day value, for sure) contract in baseball history.”
The 26-year-old superstar is poised to land a jackpot contract that could potentially approach or surpass the $700 million mark. Soto belted 41 home runs and drove in 109 RBI last season for the Bronx Bombers, while scoring 128 runs of his own and drawing 129 walks. He also batted .288 with an on-base percentage of .419 and a slugging percentage of .569, per Baseball Reference.
Soto is a four-time All-Star and finished second, third, and sixth in league MVP voting during three campaigns over a four-year stretch. He has played seven years in the bigs and been a member of the Yankees, Padres, and Nationals over his young but stellar career.
