All signs point to Juan Soto being a $600 million man in free agency

Ultimately, Juan Soto is going to be a very rich man this offseason.

The five-time Silver Slugger winner is the talk of the town, and as the Post’s Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman reported, Soto’s megadeal is expected to top $600 million.

Last week, Heyman reported that Soto has a chance to set a contract value record when the ink dries, thanks in part to Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract with the Dodgers, which is worth around $450 million because 97 percent of the money has deferred interest. free.

There is further expectation that Soto will be able to complete his highly anticipated free agency by the end of the Winter Meetings in Dallas next Thursday – or even before.

The Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Dodgers are all in the running for the 26-year-old superstar, and things appear to be nearing a tipping point in the sweepstakes.

Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, said Tuesday at Blake Snell’s Dodgers introductory press conference that the four-time All-Star has begun “eliminating” teams from contention, although it’s not yet clear which organizations Soto wants to leave.

Boras added that a decision was not “imminent.”

“When you go through these things, he just has a lot of information to process,” Boras said. “We had meetings with a number of franchises. He started eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll see, but I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.”

The Yankees just last week increased their offer for Soto, who is seeking a contract in the 15-year range.

A shorter team contract probably wouldn’t interest Soto, Heyman added.

Steve Cohen, the Mets’ wealthy owner, said nothing insightful about Soto last Monday when asked about his free agency.

“Listen, we’ll find out. It’s either yes or no. There is no in-between. Time will tell,” Cohen said.

Soto, already an annual MVP candidate, put on a show in New York in 2024, hitting a career-high 41 homers with a .288/.419/.569 slash line and helping the Yankees win their first American League home run -Winning pennant for 15 years.

For his career, Soto has a .953 OPS and 160 OPS+, meaning he is 60 percent better than league average.

Soto is already an incredible talent with the bat and will combine that with a cash grab when the time comes.