Generational free agent slugger Juan Soto, the subject of this offseason’s most intense speculation about where he will end up, is expected to settle the matter and make up his mind no later than Sunday, Dec. 8, according to top ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan. The reporter made the revelation in an interview on the network Wednesday.
Soto is expected to make his decision after a final round of meetings to be held over the weekend, according to Passan’s statements.
“We are finally in the endgame of a months long pursuit by teams of Juan Soto, and we know at his point that the final number is going to be at least $600 million over a double-digit figure number of years,” Passan said on the network’s afternoon SportsCenter broadcast. “If teams are willing to go to, say, 15 years which they might be able to because Juan Soto is only 26, we could see a contract potentially in excess of $700 million.”
No Favorites to Land Soto ‘At This Point’
Despite earlier reports by other media outlets that the Boston Red Sox were the “favorite” to acquire Soto, Passan added that “at this point there are no favorites.”
The ESPN reporter specifically named the New York Yankees, the “incumbent” team, as being among those remaining very much alive in the pursuit of Soto. The Boston Red Sox and New York Mets are also still alive, as are the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
“The expectation is that there will be meetings over the weekend,” Passan said, revealing for the first time that Soto wants one more round of face-to-face meetings with the teams involved. “It’s at that point Soto will decide where he’s going to go. And we will know at latest by the time the Winter Meetings in Dallas start.”
The Winter Meetings, the annual gathering of MLB’s top executives and even some players where numerous deals are traditionally consummated each offseason, begin on Sunday, Dec. 8.
In other words, if Passan is correct, by the time the sun sets on Sunday, the suspense will be over and one team will know that it will be adding a player who at this relatively early point in his career, ranks with baseball’s all-time best.
Soto Has Been Playing at Ted Williams’ Level
In a statistical analysis of Soto’s first six seasons, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe found that. “Through his age-25 season, Soto has performed at levels that surpass those of most Hall of Famers, helping to explain why several teams, including the Red Sox, are chasing after him in a pursuit that is widely expected to clear $500 million and perhaps even $600 million.”
Speier’s study found that only one other player in the history of Major League Baseball made the impact that Soto has made in the first six seasons of his career. That player is Ted Williams, who played for the Red Sox from 1939 to 1960. The Hall of Famer is considered by many baseball experts and historians as the greatest hitter ever to swing a bat.
“As a 19-year-old in 2018, Soto hit .292/.406/.517, good for an OPS+ of 142. (League average is 100.) His OPS+ has never fallen below that mark, making him the only player in baseball history with seven seasons featuring an OPS+ of 140 or better before turning 26,” Speier wrote, noting that Williams topped the 140 mark in each of his first four seasons, but then missed three full seasons serving in the military during World War II.
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Yankees Still In Running, Juan Soto Signing Decision Expected by Sunday: Passan