Mets, Dodgers, Yankees in the race; Decision coming soon

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m ready for the signing of Juan Soto so the MLB offseason can truly begin.

In today’s SI:AM:

💰 Soto closer to a decision
🐘 Alabama is still alive
🦅 Sirianni on the Eagles’ run

The news every baseball fan has been waiting for could be arriving very soon.

Superstar outfielder Juan Soto could make a decision about his free agency by the end of this week. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported Tuesday evening. The reason for the timing is that the annual MLB winter meetings begin Sunday in Dallas and run through Dec. 12. Soto is “widely expected” to sign with a team before the meetings end, and he “could do so” before baseball decision-makers arrive this weekend, Gonzalez reports.

Soto’s future is the biggest story in baseball this offseason and one of the most significant free agents in the history of the sport. With that in mind, here’s what we know about the race to sign him.

Who are the candidates?

There are five teams The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays are known to be pursuing Soto.

No team on this list should be a real surprise. The Yankees wouldn’t have paid a high price to trade for Soto last winter if they weren’t interested in re-signing him. Thanks to billionaire owner Steve Cohen, the Mets have virtually unlimited financial resources. The same goes for the Dodgers, even though they signed Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million contract last year. The Blue Jays and Red Sox are also financially strong teams with large market shares. Toronto signaled its willingness to pay top dollar in the free-agent market last season when it pursued Ohtani, and is rumored to be willing to do the same surpass any Soto offer. Boston, on the other hand, has trimmed payroll in recent years, ranking 12th in opening day in 2024 and has been outside the top five every year since 1921. The last time the Red Sox were not among the top five highest opening day salaries, was 2003. accordingly Baseball Prospectus. Now they might be ready to spend money again.

What will the contract look like?

Accordingly The athleteAll five teams looking to sign Soto have offered at least $600 million, and the contract will likely last at least 12 years. Jon Heyman from the New York Post reported that Soto is it I’m looking for a 15 year contract.

While the total amount of Soto’s contract doesn’t exceed the $700 million Ohtani received last year, it could still set a record. How? The majority of Ohtani’s salary is deferred compensation, which will be paid out at the end of the contract term. He will receive a salary of $2 million per year for the duration of the 10-year contract and will receive $68 million per year for ten years after the contract expires. Because of this, MLB estimated the current value of Ohtani’s contract at $460 million, thereby reducing the luxury tax the Dodgers had to pay.

Even if Soto’s contract includes some deferred money, it won’t be as much as the unprecedented deferrals that Ohtani’s deal included. That means Soto is poised to set a record for the current highest contract value in North American sports history.

What makes Soto worthy of a record-breaking contract?

Those who don’t follow baseball may be surprised to hear that anyone can match the payday Ohtani earned. After all, he is an elite hitter And Pitcher. How could anyone else even come close to this value?

That’s a fair question, and the answer might be that Soto is the only player who can come close to matching Ohtani. The main reason several teams won’t shy away from paying Soto around $50 million per year for the next decade is that he is remarkably young for a free agent. He just turned 26 at the end of October. (By comparison, Ohtani turned 30 in July.) A team could sign him to a 13-year contract and he wouldn’t turn 40 until the World Series in the final year of the contract.

It’s rare for a player to enter free agency while still playing at the peak of his powers, and that’s especially true for a player as outstanding as Soto. Almost since his debut as a 19-year-old, he has been considered one of the best batsmen the game has ever seen. He ranks third among active players in career slugging percentage, behind only Aaron Judge and Mike Trout. Over the last four seasons he has drawn 541 walks, 134 more than any other player in majors over this period (Judge has 407). And it could be that he feels better –especially as a power hitter. He is coming off a season in which he hit a career-best 41 home runs.

…things I saw last night:

5. 52 years old Shaquille O’Neal’s dunk To Within the NBA.
4. Karl Anthony Towns unique post move deceive a defense attorney. He paused briefly to complain to the referee about a no-call, lulling Moritz Wagner into a false sense of security before beating him with a turnaround jumper.
3. Kevin Durant’s crossover that left Victor Wembanyama in the dust. (Durant later left the game with a sprained ankle and did not return.)
2. Artturi Lehkonens game-winning goal for the Avalanche after falling 4-0 to the Sabres.
1. Flames fans chant “Johnny Hockey” in the final minute of their game against the Blue Jackets as a tribute to the late Johnny Gaudreau.