The New York Yankees are still playing in the World Series but that hasn’t stopped New York media from getting off-season talk moving.
On Sunday, Jon Heyman reported in the New York Post that the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lead the Yankees 2-0 in the Fall Classic, plan to make a play for slugger Juan Soto in free agency. Heyman added that Soto seems unlikely to sign with a team on the West Coast and that the Yankees view the New York Mets and potentially the Toronto Blue Jays as their biggest threats in “the Soto derby.”
The richest may get even richer. The Dodgers are halfway to beating the Yankees in the World Series, and word is they have interest in signing Yankees superstar Juan Soto, according to people familiar with their thinking.The Dodgers, arguably baseball’s best offense already — it’s either them or the Yankees — intend to make a play for Soto “if he’s interested,” sources say.The Yankees and Mets understandably are viewed by folks around baseball as likely favorites to sign Soto, not only because they are very good teams in prime position financially to make a run at the free agent who’s expected to set a salary record, but because Soto is seen as enjoying his year in New York. The juggernaut Dodgers can afford him, too, but the biggest question for them: Would he go back west?Yankees people see the Mets (and maybe the Blue Jays) as the real threat in the Soto derby, and they don’t believe Soto wants to return to Southern California any more than Shohei Ohtani wanted to come to New York. As for Soto and the Dodgers, a Yankees person had two words: “Never happen.”
The Yankees acquired Soto from the San Diego Padres last winter and the slugger has put together one of the best seasons of his career in his first in New York. The 25-year-old lefty slashed a .288/.419/.569 line over 713 trips to the plate during the 2024 regular season and hit a career-high 41 home runs. So far in the playoffs, he’s gone 14-for-40 with four homers, including a clutch go-ahead bomb in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians.
Staying with the Yankees and forming a one-two punch with Aaron Judge for the next decade appears to be Soto’s most likely outcome this winter. The Mets are the most realistic threat to swoop in and nab Soto from the Yankees, as they have the richest owner in baseball and their surprise run to the National League Championship Series makes them easy to sell as a team on the rise.
When it comes to Toronto, adding Juan Soto this off-season will certainly be an uphill battle because the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers all boast more favourable situations. The Blue Jays badly need to do something major this winter after they finished dead last in the American League East with a 74-88 record and Soto would be a perfect bat to complement Vladimir Guerrero Jr.