Juan Soto Rumors: What Red Sox Would Target After Signing Star
The Red Sox look ready to spend big this offseason, hoping they can land Juan Soto with what would be a record-breaking contract.
If Boston can convince Soto to join the Red Sox, they will likely pony up at least $600 million throughout the contract. Soto is a generational offensive talent, but signing the 25-year-old doesn’t address the club’s biggest needs.
Sox fans will be heartened by the latest reporting from The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who believes Boston wouldn’t stop at Soto.
“According to sources, the Sox do not view the pursuit of Soto and a front-of-the-rotation starter as an either/or proposition: They’d still be looking to add a top starter even if they land the top player on the market,” Speier wrote Wednesday in the Globe.
That’s potentially huge news. Soto might be one of the two or three best players in baseball, and he would undoubtedly improve the club for years to come. Adding a front-line starter on top of that would be a coup.
As Speier notes, the Red Sox have a lot of money to play with this winter after curbing spending habits in recent years. On top of that, there’s some money coming off the books, too, like Chris Sale’s contract. Speier writes the Red Sox could spend $70 million for the 2025 roster and still be under the luxury tax. Assuming Soto eats up roughly $45 million, that’s still room to maneuver.
Where it might get tricky, though, is the timing. That became even more complicated late Tuesday night when free agent starter Blake Snell reportedly agreed to a five-year, $182 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Snell was a reported target for a Red Sox team looking to upgrade its starting rotation. When one domino falls, the others typically fall pretty quick, which means the Sox might have to balance their pursuit of Soto with trying to reel in another big fish like Max Fried or Corbin Burnes in a potentially transformative offseason.