The Soto Showdown: Dodgers, Others Engage in High Stakes Bidding War

On the same afternoon the Los Angeles Dodgers formally introduced Blake Snell during a press conference at Dodger Stadium, the Juan Soto sweepstakes remained among the talking points.

Some of that stemmed from Snell’s agent, Scott Boras, who also represents Soto, being in attendance. Boras was seated on the dais with Snell, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes.

While Snell represents Boras’ biggest client to sign so far this offseason, his lucrative $182 million contract is going to be shattered by Soto’s deal.

According to Ken Rosenthal, Evan Drellich and Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Soto contract offers from the Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays have exceeded $600 million:

The clubs publicly known to be most serious about Soto are the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. The two people briefed on the negotiations said that all remaining contenders have made offers above $600 million.

The Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays have been the teams most prominently connected to Soto throughout his free agency process.

The Mets have been identified as the favorite for multiple weeks, largely behind a belief that owner Steve Cohen’s financial might will not be denied.

But recent indications have also suggested the Red Sox are making a strong impression and the Blue Jays are determined to not miss out. Toronto was in the running to sign Shohei Ohtani last offseason and at one point an erroneous report indicated the Blue Jays had won out.

That ultimately proved untrue and Ohtani went on to sign a record-setting 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers.

Scott Boras shares Juan Soto update

Speaking after Snell’s introductory press conference, Boras revealed Soto was in the process of eliminating teams from consideration but noted a decision was not necessarily on the horizon.

“He’s just got a lot of information to meld through,” Boras added. “We’ve had meetings with a number of franchises. He’s begun the process of eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll see, but I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.”