Juan Soto has helped carry the New York Yankees to the World Series where they are facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, but his time in the Big Apple may last just one season.
Soto is set to become a free agent after the World Series and he will be highly coveted but every big market club as he’s one of MLB’s most talented hitters the game has ever seen. In addition, he’s also entering free agency at just 26-years-old, making him even more unique in that sense.
It has been assumed Soto would stay with the Yankees or join the New York Mets as both teams have the need and finances to make it happen. However, the Dodgers appear to be planning to join the mix as well, via Jon Heyman of the New York Post:
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, already arguably baseball’s best offense — it’s either them or the Yankees — intend to make a play for Soto “if he’s interested” in coming, sources say.
Soto has spent the majority of his career on the East Coast, and there is a belief he may hold a preference to playing there. But at one point, he was making progress on an extension with the San Diego Padres before they ultimately decided to trade him, which signals he was at least willing to stay on the West Coast:
Many do see the Yankees and Mets holding an edge in the highly anticipated free-agent derby since there was suggestion early in his tenure in San Diego that the Dominican star preferred to be on the East Coast, where he started with the Nationals in Washington. But while he may prefer the East, word is there was an excellent chance he was going to re-sign with the Padres last summer before beloved Padres owner Peter Seidler took ill and passed away.
The Dodgers may not have the need for a superstar like Soto, but they have shown a willingness to be opportunistic and add generational talent whenever they can. Thanks to Shohei Ohtani’s deferrals in his contract, that also makes it easier for them to continue adding talent, and they feel like they owe him to keep doing that.
The Dodgers do need to address their outfield this offseason with Teoscar Hernández set to hit free agency and questions of whether Tommy Edman will stay in center field or at shortstop for the majority of his playing time. Hernández potentially re-singing may be based on their pursuit of Soto as well.
Juan Soto would like to be teammates with Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani and Soto were among the players who will participate in the 2024 MLB All-Star Game at Globe Life Field, but they were on opposing sides. Still, Soto hopes to eventually play with Ohtani someday.
“Ohtani would’ve been one of the best. Now he went to the NL, I went to the AL, so it’s been a little tricky, but definitely Ohtani would be one of them,” Soto said on All-Star Media Day when asked to name a player he would love to be teammates with.
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