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Red Sox reportedly want meeting with Juan Soto to see what ‘would get a deal done’
The Red Sox have reportedly submitted an offer over $600 million for Juan Soto.
The Red Sox are reportedly looking to get some clarity on Juan Soto’s decision, with the slugger’s sweepstakes now in its final stages.
Amid reports that the 26-year-old outfielder has started the process of eliminating suitors and could make a decision as soon as this weekend, The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier offered up some additional insight Thursday as to Boston’s desire to schedule another sit down with Soto and his agent, Scott Boras.
Speier — citing major league sources — reported that the Red Sox remain in the bidding for Soto, with one source noting that Boston has upped its bid for Soto to $600 million in recent days.
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But even if the Red Sox have shown a willingness to hand out the largest deal in franchise history, the presence of a deep-pocketed owner like the Mets’ Steve Cohen has many teams antsy about where they stand in the Soto sweepstakes.
As such, Speier reported that the Red Sox are looking for some clarity in the coming days.
“The Mets and owner Steve Cohen loom large,” Speier wrote. “The Sox are aware of rumors that Cohen told Boras he would go $50 million beyond any other team’s highest offer. Whether accurate or not, the perception of Cohen’s willingness to spend to such heights lords over the bidding and how teams approach it.
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“For that reason, the Red Sox have expressed interest in an additional meeting in which Boras and Soto would identify a price that would get a deal done. It’s unknown if such a meeting has been or will be granted.”
Cohen’s willingness to outbid the rest of the field has seemingly established the Mets as the frontrunners for Soto ever since the start of free agency at the end of October.
Even though Soto helped the Yankees make it all the way to the World Series in his lone season in the Bronx in 2024, longtime MLB insider Ken Rosenthal noted on Thursday that Yankees don’t necessarily have the inside edge on retaining Soto.
“I don’t know that the Yankees get any preferential treatment here, if that’s what you’re implying,” Rosenthal said on “Foul Territory.” “I think this is going to be the highest bidder, and the highest bidder in most everyone’s opinion in this industry, stands to be the New York Mets. Not saying it’s going to happen that way.
“I’ve repeated many times that free agency is a wild scenario. A lot of things can happen. So Cohen seems to be the guy with the deepest pockets, right? That is why the Mets have been considered the favorite, but maybe Soto takes a liking to Boston. Maybe he really wants to be a Yankee. Maybe the Blue Jays blow us all away. I don’t know.”
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Even if Soto and Boras do grant a meeting with the Red Sox and set the requested price needed to get a deal done, Rosenthal stressed that the Mets might still have the last call in terms of any last-minute offers, given their fiscal standing behind Cohen.
“I almost think the Mets will have the final say,” Rosenthal said. “Because after Scott Boras and Soto collect all the offers, what they should do — or what they likely will do, in my opinion — is go to Steve Cohen and say, ‘Okay, here’s where we are. What do you want to do? Do you want to top it? Do you want to go further? Tell us what you want to do.’”
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