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By Joey Copponi
Contributing Sports Writer
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The grand prize of the 2024 MLB free agent class, Juan Soto, has been making the rounds this week as he meets with potential suitors.
According to reports, Soto has met with the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and, most recently, the New York Mets. The Mets were expected to be serious contenders in the Soto sweepstakes, thanks primarily to the seemingly bottomless pockets of owner Steve Cohen. If reports are to be believed, those expectations were not misplaced.
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"According to former MLB player Carlos Baerga," MLB insider Héctor Gómez tweeted on Sunday, "the Mets' initial offer to Juan Soto yesterday in LA was $660 million."
Ahead of the 25-year-old's free agency, projections for Soto's contract were generally in the range of $500 million to $600 million, with some predicting the $600 million threshold could be crossed as the winter goes on.
The Mets' $660 million offer is the first reported offer of the offseason and well exceeds those expectations. The contract would be the second-largest in MLB history, just $40 million shy of Shohei Ohtani's record-shattering $700 million contract he received last offseason from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While that offseason did see a historic contract signing, baseball fans can attest it was painstakingly slow, with many players not signing until well into spring training and some players not ready for opening day because of the free agency market's pace. With a massive offer reportedly on the table, Juan Soto could very well be off the market much sooner than expected and could singlehandedly rewrite the growing narrative of MLB's long and arduous winters.
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