The Rays are among the teams that have reached out to Juan Soto’s camp since the opening of free agency last week, writes Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman lists a much less surprising additional six teams that have shown interest: the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Blue Jays and Red Sox.
The mere mention of the Rays as a possible Soto suitor is going to be met with plenty of skepticism. It’d be a shock if they made a legitimate push for the market’s top free agent. The Rays have tried to land an elite free agent at least once before, as they reportedly made an offer in the $150MM range to Freddie Freeman before he signed with the Dodgers. That wasn’t too far off the price Freeman ultimately landed, but any offers to Soto would be in a different stratosphere. He should handily top $500MM and could secure a contract between $600MM and $700MM.
While it’s fair to assume the Rays themselves aren’t optimistic about their chances, this is illustrative that they have some money to at least dabble in the middle of free agency. The Rays opened this past season with a payroll around $98MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. They’ve got a little less than $40MM in guaranteed commitments for next year (assuming Wander Franco remains on the restricted list and is not paid). Their arbitration class is projected around $25MM, though they could knock that to the $15MM range with a few non-tenders. Trades of Brandon Lowe or Yandy Díaz would subtract another $10.5MM or $10MM, respectively.
None of that is to say they should be perceived as a realistic threat to the big-market teams on Soto. They’ll probably be more active in free agency than many fans might expect given their general spending habits, though. Another mid-tier strike akin to the $40MM Zach Eflin deal from two offseasons ago could be on the table. Any free agent pursuits are complicated by their uncertain stadium situation after Tropicana Field was severely damaged by Hurricane Milton.
The other teams known to have some interest in Soto are all expected. The Yankees and Mets are widely perceived as the favorites. The Dodgers are at least tied to virtually every free agent of note. The news that Mookie Betts is likely moving back to the middle infield is going to fuel speculation about L.A. making a run at Soto. Giants baseball operations president Buster Posey has spoken about wanting to land a star. The Blue Jays were in the running for Shohei Ohtani last winter. The Red Sox have indicated they could be more active in free agency than they’ve been over the past few winters, although a splash in the rotation market seems much likelier than them landing Soto.
The New York Post reported last week that 11 teams had been in contact with Soto’s reps at the Boras Corporation on the first day of the offseason. That leaves at least four unknown clubs, though Heyman casts some doubt on the Nationals and Cubs as possibilities. Heyman suggests that Washington is unlikely to spend at the level necessary to bring Soto back. He writes that Chicago’s offseason plans are more geared towards pitching at the moment.
Soto’s free agency should carry for multiple weeks. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote this afternoon that the four-time All-Star plans to have an in-person meeting with the ownership group of each team making a serious pursuit.
Rays in the Bay
Its like checking the menu and asking for market price and saying ‘sss… Yeah no. I’ll have the kid’s burger’ That’s the Rays Way
Fever Pitch Guy
Rays – So what you’re saying is they should call Roto Rooter for this “Soto Suitor”.
Michael Macaulay-Birks
If nothing else is a smart marketing moved by Tampa Bay, who I hope will be playing their home games in Orlando this year
VegasMoved
Rays: “Hey Juan, how much you looking for?”
Soto: “At least $500 million.”
Rays: “……”
Rays: “Alright, well, have a good one.”
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
They wouldn’t sign Soto even if it was a 14 years 200 million contract
WhyNot29
They probably would: back-loaded heavily. Then they would dump him at year 5 with some nice prospects for some random high school pitcher. That pitcher would then become a Cy Young candidate.
HalosHeavenJJ
Truly great comment
Rays in the Bay
@Whynot, no way Soto agrees to that kinda deal. That’s why talented FAs will never sign with the Rays. They all know how the Rays do business
Unclemike1525
I thought this said Reds. Either way it’s pretty funny.
BPax
The team with no stadium and bottom of the barrel attendance is in on the Soto sweepstakes?
Rays: We’re prepared to offer you $600.00 a month and all you can eat at Golden Corral.
Soto: I was thinking 50 million a year,
Rays: We can throw in a 2016 Hyundai Elantra.
Soto: I guess I’ll shop around some more.
padrepapi
Close to the DR, playing in the NL East… that would be something!
Gwynning
Rays swimming to a new League?
phenomenalajs
He may be thinking of the Marlins who are close to the DR in Miami, but they aren’t much more likely than the Rays to make a run at him.
EHenderson
That’s enough, Gwynning.
LFGMets (Metsin7) #BannedForBeingABaseballExpert
There is a better chance that Lebron plays for the Rays then Soto does. Aka 0% chance the Rays would ever pony up 600 mil to sign Soto
This one belongs to the Reds
That was South Beach that LeBron took his talents too.
This article actually made me laugh. What’s next, the Sacramento A’s hit a jackpot in Vegas and reached out? Buffalo Bob telling Howdy Doody he is actually willing to spend some lettuce?
Bora$ shill strikes again!
YankeesBleacherCreature
Yankees need to step it up as the Rays are offering him Wander Franco’s money.
websoulsurfer
That literally made me laugh out loud.
Yankee Clipper
Let’s just hope the Yankees don’t pull their normal offseason stunt and “wait for Soto’s market to develop” prior to making other moves. It’s usually how they end up overpaying for leftover guys that aren’t as good as the ones already picked up.
Ben K
you gotta do, do, do the due diligence
Champ world champion Texas Rangers
1 year 100 million
DonOsbourne
Well it’s the Rays, so it might be 100 years, $1 million. That keeps the CBT hit down.
Kash Considerations
Depending on where they’re going to play, they might just be the closest thing to the DR this side of Miami? If we are to believe anonymous reports of how Soto prefers to stay “east” for “family” reasons, then perhaps this could be a suitable starting point for negotiations!
13Morgs13
Hey, do I have experience fixing roofs???
TJECK109
600mil from the rays deferred over the next 60 years
DarrenDreifortsContract
And you guys thought Ohtani had a lot of deferred money. The Rays would be paying Soto until the next century.
Gwynning
All jokes aside, I doubt Soto defers even 10% of his upcoming contract worth. Bet
ArianaGrandSlam
Well, it’s way too early of the offseason to speculate anyway. Nothing will probably happen until next February.
whosehighpitch
One of the worst posts I’ve ever read on here. Unless the rays are prepared to offer 10 years 1 billion dollars and ownership of the franchise with the ability to move it wherever he wants and build a new ballpark with naming rights move on
Gwynning
That’s such a high pitch, even makes Mariah Carey jealous!
ClevelandSteelEngines
Sounds like they are doing reconnaissance work to get a data point on his value. Good work on Rays management to get the data.
Otto371
But why?
Acoss1331
Heyman is msking this too obvious. We get it, hyping up Scott Boras’s wares is your hustle, but make it believable…
seamaholic 2
Makes total sense. Their payroll could be in the $40’s. They can easily afford to double that for Soto, then trade him in a couple years. He’s so young that it’s extremely likely to have many years of huge trade value. His age makes that $500m figure irrelevant. It’s more like 2/$90m.
Gwynning
And get a noice prospect haul from a big market team in the process. 4D chess
seamaholic 2
Yup. Every good but low payroll team should be thinking this way. Because of his age (and not being a pitcher) it’s their only chance to grab a superstar in free agency.
gbs42
And if he gets hurt? Underperforms?
Rays and other small-market teams aren’t taking the risk, and Soto can choose to go where he knows the team will continually try to compete.
DarrenDreifortsContract
and what happens if he gets hurt or just falls off in those 2 years?
websoulsurfer
“Hi Scott, this is Eric Neander. I know we don’t have a stadium to play in, but we want to see what it would take to put Soto in a Rays uniform.
Scott? Scott? bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I think he hung up:”
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Even the rays reach out to Soto
But never the mariners if we get the payroll past 150 million nowadays the profits will be compromised!
Compromised!!!!!
benhen77
Better use of money than fixing the roof…
Old York
Rays are too poor to pay for their own stadium but considering taking on a $600M contract for Soto. Priorities!
Gwynning
Strong “Yeah I live at a bus stop, but I drive a Lambo, bro!” vibes
atripleshy
He’d make more than the whole rest of the 40 man combined.
D2323
They’re just waiting for their FEMA check to clear and they’re gonna give Soto the money instead of fixing the stadium.
reflect
This is misreported. The Rays reached out to Soto’s Premium Roofing, a local company in Tampa.
Old York
Makes sense. But given that they’re Premium, do you think the Rays can still afford it?
Rollie's Mustache
Juan Soto the baseball player or the Juan Soto who owns a Tampa-area roof repair company?
bjhaas1977
LOL!
FartPocket
Wouldn’t be surprised if the Rays are just calling other teams to potentially take a bad or a couple smaller contracts along with prospects so these teams can lower their cbt while they work on offers. And Heyman just dumped the Rays into the Soto market.
DarkSide830
Heyman should get fired for this “report”.
gbs42
That piece of nothingness doesn’t qualify as a “report.” Heyman…
HalosHeavenJJ
Boras is just screwing with his lapdog. Dude made Heyman say TB is in the mix?
That’s so great.
Old York
Yankees and Mets better up their game if the Rays are checking in on Soto. Maybe up that $-amount to $1B just to be safe. No chance the Rays go up to $1B.
– Signed off by Jon Heyman, on duty for Boras Corporation.
JayRyder
In other news Bigfoot was spotted at a local Tampa seafood restaurant. In response to what he ordered, the restaurant replied – “Big Fish”
markbrunell
Rays have the same chance signing soto as i have marrying halle berry
Lindor's Bodyguard
All the news that’s fit to print. Sorta.
FatChance65
Here we go again, another off-season and the Red Sox are “interested.” Stop…just stop.
sufferforsnakes
He’s not worth that much money
Ezpkns34
“Can we interest you in 10,000 free tickets every home game as a little sweetener on our 5y/$10Mper offer?”
El Kabong
“Act now, and we’ll throw in a Wander Franco jersey.”
Silver Boot Series Enjoyer
Would be interesting for them to start spending more on roster in anticipation of the new stadium.
neurogame
The Rays will use their insurance money towards Soto.
KingTiger
Soto shall be a Tiger. The Miggy money is now off the books; adding him to all of their young talent would make them World Series contenders for years…
El Kabong
Shouldn’t stories like this be limited to us subscribers?
O'sSayCanYouSee
Shouldn’t comments like this be limited to bots?
Pedro Martinez’s Mango Tree
Forget it Boston, he’s not taking a 3 year, 39 million dollar deal
rickoppelt
Mariners fan here… but Boston would be a great landing spot for him. His opposite field power would play well and would be an awesome building point for the Red Sox.
bestone
Plane leaving overnight to Toronto….avoiding the trump tax that will be inflicted next year…just wait ladies…
bestone
Wander Franco will be pardoned by trump….one of his “kind of fellows”…
jorge78
Wut? It’s not April Fools Day!
bluepelotas
All jokes aside, the Dodgers are not in the mix!!
DodgerOK
Just so they can say they made an offer.