Rosenthal: Mets Seen as Favorites for Juan Soto

Updated Post: December 3 at 8:05 PM ET

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports the bidding for Juan Soto has reached $600 million.

Rosenthal added, “The Mets are widely regarded as the favorite for Soto, with many in the industry believing the team’s owner, Steve Cohen, will top any rival bid.”

Updated Post: December 3 at 6:53 pm ET

Juan Soto has begun the process of “eliminating teams,” according to Scott Boras. Newsweek’s J.P. Hoornstra, reporting from Blake Snell’s introductory press conference, shared the information. Despite this, a signing isn’t imminent, Hoornstra says. (There is no way Boras would’ve said a signing was coming soon and take attention off Snell.)

The Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Phillies have been known teams

Updated Post: November 24 at 2:25 pm ET

According to Buster Olney of ESPN, teams are expected to start forwarding offers to Juan Soto this upcoming week. Olney confirmed, up until this point, the meetings teams have had with Soto was about the sides getting familiar with each other, not making formal offers.

Updated Post: November 19 at 2:58 p.m.

Ken Rosenthal appeared on Foul Territory on Tuesday and said Juan Soto signing with the Mets is the “most likely” scenario for Soto’s free agency. He cited Steve Cohen’s wallet as the reason. “Is it at simple as the highest bidder wins and is that Steve Cohen?” Rosenthal asked. In that scenario, it’s the Mets all day.

Scoop reporters have been wrong before, though. Buster Olney no longer has the family farm.

Updated Post: November 19 at 12:35 p.m.

Add the Phillies to the list of teams expected to meet with Juan Soto. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Tuesday morning that Philadelphia hasn’t met with him yet, but that it plans to.

Heyman noted the Phillies’ desire to win being as strong as any team in the big leagues. They already have Bryce Harper and Trea Turner on massive, decade-plus, multi-hundred million dollar deals. While it took $330 million and $300 million to sign Harper and Turner, respectively, Soto would be by far their biggest financial commitment yet.

Soto has already met with the Mets and Yankees, and is expected to meet with the Dodgers early this week. The Dodgers committed over a billion dollars to Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto alone last offseason.

Updated Post: November 18 at 10:49 a.m.

The worst-kept secret in baseball is that superstar free agent Juan Soto will accept the highest contract he receives. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, along with most national reporters, have stated that Steve Cohen and the New York Mets will have the highest offer for Soto. This is a significant development for the Mets because of the assumption he would take less to stay with the Yankees. The Blue Jays are another team in contention to make a run for Soto.

In 2022, the Padres and Giants offered Aaron Judge more money and years, trying to pry him away from the Yankees. In the end, the Yankees matched the Giants but came up short of the Padres offer, and Judge remained with the Bronx Bombers.

Original Post: November 17 at 10:35 a.m.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the New York Mets completed their meeting with superstar free agent Juan Soto. It was previously reported that the Mets were going to be one of a few teams who were going to meet in-person with Soto. That meeting took place, and concluded, on Saturday.

According to Heyman, Mets owner Steve Cohen and a contingent of high-ranking Mets officials conducted the meeting. Heyman added that, “Early signs suggest the meeting went extremely well.” He also added that the presentation New York conducted was, “very detailed,” and overall a, “big production.”

It has been long-rumored that the Mets have been one of the favorites to land Soto. This meeting appears to be one of the first steps to help make that happen. According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Mets closely trail the Yankees, who have the best odds to sign Soto this offseason.

Heyman added in his report that, “The Mets hold a few advantages, starting with Cohen’s wherewithal and his determination to bring a sustainable winner to Queens.” He also confirmed that Soto is certainly the Mets priority.

The Yankees are set to meet with the young superstar next, and the Boston Red Sox concluded their meeting with Soto earlier in the week.

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