How Juan Soto would fit 9 potential suitors, from the Yankees to, yes, the Nationals

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How Juan Soto would fit 9 potential suitors, from the Yankees to, yes, the Nationals

How Juan Soto would fit 9 potential suitors, from the Yankees to, yes, the Nationals

Let the bidding war begin.

After seven big-league seasons, four All-Star selections, two blockbuster trades, two World Series appearances and a batting title, Juan Soto is a free agent. His decision will dominate headlines in the coming months, as fans and executives debate the superstar’s present and future value.

Though the Soto sweepstakes has been billed as a two-horse race between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets, most ownership groups will at least have a conversation about forking over a $600 million offer to Soto and his agent, Scott Boras. That’s because Soto fits any team’s timeline, from the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the 121-loss Chicago White Sox: He’s only 26. Soto could sign a 14-year deal and not turn 40 until the week he returned to free agency in 2038.

Below, in alphabetical order, is an examination of how Soto would fit nine of the teams expected to pursue him. How would Soto’s bat reshape the lineup in 2024? And how does he transform each team’s core?

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Nothing would return Yankees-Red Sox to its rightful place as baseball’s undisputed best rivalry like Soto spurning New York to sign with Boston. And nothing would restore Red Sox fans’ waning faith in John Henry and Fenway Ownership Group like paying $600-plus million to poach Soto from the Yankees.

Soto’s all-fields approach would play beautifully at Fenway Park — the second-best ballpark in the majors for left-handed hitters, per Statcast — though his addition to the lineup would make the Red Sox’s lack of right-handed hitting even more apparent. Boston’s core of batters alongside Soto would include lefties Rafael Devers, Jarren Duran, Triston Casas, and Wilyer Abreu and right-handed bat Trevor Story, all under club control through at least 2027, plus several top prospects currently nearing the majors. Soto’s lack of defensive range would be mitigated by parking him in Fenway’s small left field, and there’s no hulking slugger preventing him from moving eventually to DH. Soto makes a lot of sense for the Red Sox. But they also have other clear needs, and there’s a reason executives describe them as a second-tier option to sign Soto: Ownership has shown no desire to throw around that kind of money in free agency. — Stephen J. Nesbitt

The Cubs have never signed a free agent to a contract worth more than $184 million (Jason Heyward), or carrying an average annual value of more than $30 million (Cody Bellinger), so this is a stretch. But free-agent hitters this good, or this young, don’t come around often.

Bellinger opting into his contract for 2025 has complicated the Soto equation on two fronts. First, the Cubs might be far more willing to bid on Soto’s services if they weren’t paying $27.5 million to Bellinger this year (and potentially $25 million next year). Second, they’d have to move Bellinger, Ian Happ or Seiya Suzuki to open a corner-outfield or DH spot for Soto. In the short term, seeing Soto in Cubbie blue requires some imagination. But Soto is not a short-term acquisition. With few lengthy contracts on the books and several impact prospects at Triple A, by signing Soto the Cubs would be delivering a strong statement to the rest of the baseball world that they’re willing to spend big in their attempt to own the NL Central. — Nesbitt

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers finally captured their elusive full-season World Series crown, and now they have a chance to cement themselves as a true force to be reckoned with in an age when mediocrity permeates much of the league. Los Angeles opened the season with MLB’s third-highest payroll, but adding Soto may still be feasible, especially considering the $68 million annual deferral in Shohei Ohtani’s megadeal. Two outfield spots are opening, as Teoscar Hernández hits free agency and Mookie Betts moves back to the infield, and the dream of a lineup featuring Ohtani, Betts, Soto and Freddie Freeman is the stuff dynasties are made of.

Betts is signed through 2032, Ohtani and catcher Will Smith are signed through 2033 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is signed through 2035. Adding Soto to an organization hailed for its player-development pipeline would give the Dodgers a startling amount of talent and could ensure another decade of dominance. — Cody Stavenhagen

New York Mets

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Steve Cohen could be going hard for Soto. (Brad Penner / USA Today)

Less than two years ago, as the Mets went on a free-agent spending spree, Boras said, “You can envision Steve Cohen hanging on to the Empire State Building. It’s maybe not Steve Cohen. It’s maybe Steve Kong.” If ever there was a moment for the Mets owner to flex his financial might, it’s this one. Coming off a surprise NLCS run, the Mets have empty spots on their roster and an owner willing (and rich enough) to fill them with the best players available. Starting with Soto, whom Cohen is visiting this week.

The current product ain’t shabby, of course. Francisco Lindor was an MVP candidate in 2024 and is signed through 2031. Mark Vientos, Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Alvarez are all part of the long-term core, with top-100 prospects Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert poised to join soon. Soto could man right field or DH for the Mets. There’s no question he’d fit well in Queens. There’s also no question that if Cohen decides to win a bidding war, no other owner can beat him. — Nesbitt

New York Yankees

The Yankees do not spend with bottomless pockets like they once did, but we have already seen how a dynamic duo of Soto and Aaron Judge can bring supremacy back to the Bronx. Soto thrived under the New York lights, reveled in a park friendly to home-run hitters and even had bright spots on defense in Yankee Stadium’s small right field. As an all-fields hitter, Soto did not benefit from the right-field short porch to the extent one might expect, but the ballpark still suits him, and Soto seemed to love his year in pinstripes. “This is going to stay in my heart for the rest of my life, this group of guys,” Soto said after the World Series. “This year was really special for me.”

Scott Boras said that he expects that Juan Soto will meet with Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ braintrust, at some point this offseason — the same way he will with other teams that have interest.

Hal/Soto met over the summer, too.

— Brendan Kuty (@BrendanKutyNJ) November 6, 2024

If the Yankees are serious about ending their World Series drought, re-signing Soto is the obvious place to start. To best understand why he makes so much sense, simply imagine the 2024 Yankees without him. — Stavenhagen

The Phillies fell short in the playoffs, but there’s still an argument they had the closest thing to a complete team in baseball. The comments from the club’s top personalities in the days since have been enough to raise eyebrows. Owner John Middleton told The Athletic he is content remaining a luxury-tax team for years to come. Middleton told USA Today he would even be willing to exceed the third luxury-tax threshold of $281 million “for the right player.” Dave Dombrowski said bolstering the outfield is the Phillies’ most obvious path to improvement.

There is no player more “right” than Soto, who could bring another massive bat to a powerful Phillies order. Signing Soto, though, would require some level of creativity. Philadelphia already has defensively challenged players in Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber and no DH at-bats to spare. But Soto has ties to Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and hitting coach Kevin Long. The complications here make the Phillies seem like a long shot, but wheeling and dealing in pursuit of a star player has long been Dave Dombrowski’s specialty. — Stavenhagen

The Giants’ free-agent track record under Farhan Zaidi was marked by an inability — or unwillingness — to land a face-of-the-franchise superstar. Bryce Harper. Aaron Judge. Carlos Correa. Shohei Ohtani. Yoshinobu Yamamoto. This is Buster Posey’s chance to put that narrative to rest. (Unless he isn’t given the freedom to spend big this offseason.) After extending Matt Chapman, who like Blake Snell had signed a glorified one-year deal with the Giants last offseason, Posey is surely intrigued by the idea of bringing the Bay Area its best hitter since Barry Bonds.

In 22 games in San Francisco, Soto has batted .325 with seven homers and a 1.050 OPS, a small sample that still will make some Giants fans salivate. He’d slot into a corner outfield spot beside center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, or at DH, and occupy the middle of the Giants’ lineup alongside Chapman for the remainder of the 2020s. The Giants have not had a 30-homer hitter since Bonds in 2004. Soto has three such seasons, including the past two. San Francisco is a tough place to hit, but his bat plays anywhere. — Nesbitt

The Blue Jays have so far refused to concede their competitive window is closing. Even as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette enter contract seasons having never advanced past the Wild Card Series, Toronto seems focused on winning. After a failed pursuit of Ohtani last winter, perhaps nothing would put the Blue Jays back in the thick of the AL East race than plucking Soto from the rival Yankees.

Statcast projects Soto would have hit more home runs in Rogers Centre than he did in Yankee Stadium last season. The club could badly use a lefty thumper to complement what has long been a heavy right-handed order. Their flirtations with Ohtani last offseason showed a willingness to spend, though club president Mark Shapiro said last month he didn’t anticipate payroll “growing or decreasing in a big way” in 2025. This coming year will be crucial if the Blue Jays want to avoid crumpling up their current construction and starting over. Could desperation become the mother of a bold move? — Stavenhagen

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Juan Soto was a good fit for a Nationals uniform once. Could it happen again? (Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)

How about ending with a storybook homecoming?

The way things ended between Soto and the Nationals, with him turning down a 15-year, $440 million extension before being traded to San Diego, a reunion would seem incredibly unlikely. But the Nationals are on the upswing, as the prospects added throughout their rebuild are reaching the majors and maturing. Perhaps Soto could be swayed to rejoin the club he helped lead to a World Series title in 2019 — also the club that employs his younger brother, 18-year-old Elian Soto.

Of the six players Washington received in the Soto trade, three are on their major league roster — CJ Abrams, James Wood and MacKenzie Gore — and Robert Hassell III is almost there. By re-acquiring Soto, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo would accelerate the team’s timeline to contention in a difficult NL East, putting together an incomplete yet compelling lineup featuring Soto, Abrams, Wood, Dylan Crews, Luis García Jr. and Keibert Ruiz. That group wouldn’t rival the Phillies, Mets or Braves in Year 1 of the Soto contract, but that contract — and Soto’s prime — will continue on loooong after 2025. — Nesbitt

(Top photo: AP Photo / Seth Wenig)

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