The Dodgers-Juan Soto Hype Train Continues to Chug Along

As speculation swirls around where Juan Soto will play in 2025 and beyond, the best player about to enter the free agent market isn’t thinking about a contract during the season. The New York Yankees — and the Dodgers, and every other team interested in Soto — doesn’t know if his stay in the Bronx is temporary or permanent until after the season.

“We’ll be on the lookout for the Yankees in the offseason, and we’ll listen to all their offers,” Soto said in Spanish earlier this summer. “And we’ll see what happens.”

That sounds like he will be shopping around for the best contract.

The Mets are seen as the Yankees’ toughest competition to sign Soto this offseason. Mets owner Steve Cohen’s wealth and strong drive to win could escalate the bidding war.

Other teams potentially in the mix, according to a new report from ESPN’s Jorge Castillo, include the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers. While the Washington Nationals are reportedly interested in reuniting with Soto, it would require the team’s ownership to offer more than it had been willing to in the past.

Two years ago, Soto rejected a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Nationals, which had no deferred payments. This decision led to his trade to the Padres later that summer in exchange for a package of prospects. Now, Soto and his agent, Scott Boras, are aiming for a significantly larger deal.

“I let him do his thing in his area, and I do it in mine,” Soto said of Boras. “I think that’s the best way to do it. I’m intelligent in my playing field, in everything I do. And he’s intelligent in his area. So I think that’s how we’ve done it and we’ve felt very comfortable with how we’ve done it.”

While Soto leaves the bidding in the hands of his agent, he leans on Aaron Judge for advice. Two years later, Judge faced a similar predicament – remain a Yankee forever or sign elsewhere?

“I just kind of talked to him early on and said, ‘Hey, just do your thing. There’s going to be a lot of noise, but you play your game, you do what you can. All that stuff’s going to work out at the end,'” Judge said. “And we kind of just left it at that because I know how it was when I was going through it. I didn’t want somebody bringing it up every single day. I didn’t want somebody to bring it up every month. After a good month bringing it up, after a bad month bringing it up. It’s just, ‘Go do your thing.'”

The Dodgers would benefit by adding Soto to their already star-studded lineup but his asking price will be north of $500 million and could rival the 10-year, $700 million deal Shohei Ohtani has. If the Dodgers are willing to pay then it might be possible.

Photo Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

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