4 MLB Teams That Can Afford to Pay Juan Soto More Than Shohei Ohtani

Juan Soto has been a free agent for exactly two days, and the rumors have already gained momentum. If there were any doubts about what exactly this war would be, Soto put them to rest after the New York Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series, remaining pointedly cagey about his future and telling reporters that all 30 teams would get a chance to offer the outfielder to play for them. Perhaps he will remain in the Bronx; he might join the New York Mets; maybe the Philadelphia Phillies are just waiting; maybe he doesn’t hate the West Coast after all and the Dodgers are inevitable.

Wherever he ends up, one thing we know for sure: Soto will get paid this winter. Such a good player at this age fits into any lineup and any competitive schedule. Every power hitter in the league will go toe-to-toe with him, and that’s the type of competition that agent Scott Boras knows what to do with. The estimated value of Soto’s next contract started last winter at about $500 million and has since risen to $600 million or higher.

“But wait,” you might think. “Shohei Ohtani got $700 million, most of it deferred, and he is objectively a more valuable player than Soto.” Which, strictly speaking, is correct. But this also misses the point: contracts are not determined by meritocracy; they’re defined by leverage, and while Soto isn’t the two-way phenomenon that Ohtani is, he does have all the leverage in the world. So, while he’s not Ohtani as a player, here are four teams that might be willing and able to pay him as much as he does.

For more news and rumors, check out the work of MLB insider Robert Murray. Baseball Insiders Podcastsubscribe to Moonshotour weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the latest information leading up to the MLB offseason.

The Giants, as you might expect, were only mentioned on the outskirts of Soto’s lottery. While it’s unlikely that San Francisco will finally land the big free agent they’ve been so desperately looking for, money certainly won’t be an issue. Blake Snell has already opted out, and if fellow pitcher Robbie Ray joins him, the Giants will have just $105.3 million in salary for 2025. – in terms of economic advantages, this is catastrophically small.

Then again, Soto seems unlikely to sign with a West Coast team that has been mired in mediocrity the last few years. But if you’re looking for a team that could come out of nowhere with a monster offer that even starts at 7, look no further.

How do we know the Blue Jays are in the running for an Ohtani-style number? Well, because they were willing to literally pay Ohtani last winter until the Great Flight Tracking Failure of 2023 resulted in him essentially ending up in Dodger blue. But Toronto remains a major player: Its ownership group, Rogers Communications, is a huge company with very deep pockets, and the team must be desperate to field a winner from last place and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are headed to free agency.

If the Jays want to convince one or both of their top stars to stay with the team long-term, signing Soto would be a great way to demonstrate the team’s desire to win. And hey, there has already been smoke linking Soto to Toronto in recent weeks.

Let’s start with the obvious: this is literally the New York Yankees. If any team could afford a $700 million contract, it would be the Bronx Bombers, a franchise worth about $7.6 billion. Hal Steinbrenner’s outrageous claims to the contrary: This organization is swimming in money, and it will be even more so if it continues to go to the World Series with Soto in the deep end.

The Dominican Republic star is tailor-made to play in the Bronx, and there shouldn’t be a team more interested in landing Soto this winter. Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole aren’t getting any younger, Gleyber Torres is hitting the free agent market himself, and outside of them there isn’t much up-and-coming talent to talk about on this team. (With all due respect to Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe.) If New York loses Soto, things could get incredibly awkward in a hurry, and you can expect Soto and Boras to take advantage of that. No price here should be too high.

Of course, while the Yankees are the most desperate team to land Soto, they aren’t exactly the richest. That honor goes to baseball’s richest owner, Steve Cohen of the New York Mets. We know Cohen is ready to unleash the money cannon, and with a lot of money coming in on the balance sheet, team president David Stearns has already hinted at a big offseason to come. It may take more than that to pry Soto away from the team he clearly enjoyed playing with in 2024, and the Mets need to do better if they want to once and for all usurp the Yankees at the top of New York’s sports hierarchy.

The Mets have other holes in this lineup, especially in the starting rotation, and Pete Alonso could leave a gaping hole at first base. But the chance to sign a player like Soto only comes once in a generation or so, and Cohen may not have a better opportunity to take his franchise into the stratosphere.