Major League Baseball’s offseason is highlighted by New York Yankees top free agent prospect Juan Soto.
As Soto’s lottery picks heat up, many teams have been reported to be in talks with Soto, including the Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox.
While there is no indication of where Soto will sign and all people can do is speculate at this point, it still has everyone on the edge of their seats.
MLB analyst Jeff Joyce was asked who he thinks is the frontrunner to sign Soto right now.
“Great,” Joyce said.
Juan Soto’s pitching continues to be a hot topic this offseason.@JeffJoyce19 breaks his thoughts as to why #Big are still leaders.
🔗 https://t.co/iXax8hxC8m pic.twitter.com/bojOX1fedd
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) November 23, 2024
Joyce believes that if the offers were the same, Soto would easily choose to return to the Yankees.
While the Yankees likely would have been Soto’s first choice if the money had been the same, Joyce’s guess is that the Mets and owner Steve Cohen would outbid the Yankees and all other teams interested in Soto.
Soto proved just how valuable he was in his first year with the Yankees when he hit .288 with 41 home runs, 109 RBI and a .989 OPS in 157 games during the regular season.
While Soto’s regular season was impressive, his postseason was even more impressive as he batted .327 with four home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.101 OPS in 14 games.
Soto’s ability to perform in the postseason when the pressure is on has only increased his stock heading into free agency this offseason.
It will be interesting to see if Cohen really offers so much money that Soto has no choice but to sign with the Mets, or if another team could swoop in.
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Mets acquire outfielder in trade with Rays
