Juan Soto’s $700M Question Looms Over MLB Winter Meetings

The world of baseball is descending this weekend on Dallas for the winter meetings. By the time the high-profile annual gathering concludes Thursday, the sport could be changed in historic fashion. 

The winter meetings are a key fixture of baseball’s offseason calendar, and they are often a fertile spot for free-agent signings and trade activity. This year, however, carries an even greater sense of expectation as outfielder Juan Soto is expected to select his destination in the coming days. Wherever that is, Soto is projected to sign a contract that will exceed $600 million, will stand as at least the second-largest player deal in North American sports history, and perhaps become the new standard bearer in present-day value depending on the amount of deferrals involved. On Saturday, the New York Post reported that both the Yankees and Mets now have offers for Soto in excess of $700 million, which would beat Shohei Ohtani’s record-setting pact in any respect.

Soto, however, is hardly the only big name on the market. Other notable and available free-agent talents that could see dealmaking in Dallas include first baseman Pete Alonso, starting pitchers Corbin Burnes and Max Fried, and third baseman Alex Bregman, among others. 

Last year’s winter meetings in many respects were stifled by teams waiting on Ohtani’s free-agency decision, which after the gathering became a record-setting 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers. Beyond Soto and his anticipated decision, there already is a faster-moving and more fertile player market this year, in part because there is at least some near-term certainty on teams’ local media-rights revenue after the now-resolved bankruptcy of regional sports network operator Diamond Sports Group. 

The latest major move over the weekend saw the Giants come to terms on a seven-year, $182 million agreement with shortstop Willy Adames, representing the largest contract in that franchise’s history. The team’s previous largest deal belongs to catcher Buster Posey, who is now San Francisco’s president of baseball operations.

“This streaming thing that they have going on is very viable, very profitable,” said Scott Boras, agent to several major stars—including Soto, Alonso, and Bregman—of MLB clubs. “I don’t think they like to say that, but obviously the markets indicate that there is a different attitude about what it is.”

Hall of Fame Decisions

The Baseball Hall of Fame, meanwhile, kicked off the gathering in high-profile fashion Sunday night by announcing the election of Dick Allen and Dave Parker to the shrine by its Classic Baseball Era Committee. The two are the first members of the Hall of Fame’s induction class of 2025, which will get additional members next month once the Baseball Writers Association of America announces its election results.

The 16-member Classic Baseball Era Committee focused on the sport’s pre-1980 era, and among the notable candidates missing the cut was former pitcher Tommy John. In addition to a lengthy and decorated on-field career, John in particular has made baseball history by trailblazing a now-common ligament replacement surgery that is named for him. But he only garnered seven votes from the committee, five votes short of the needed threshold, though five other candidates received even less support.

“If I get in the Hall of Fame, I get in the Hall of Fame. If I don’t, I don’t,” John told Front Office Sports Today in October. “I know how well I pitched, and I know what I did, and you can’t have a bunch of guys sitting back, scraping their ass on the chair saying, ‘Oh, he deserves to be in [the Hall] and he doesn’t.’” 

MLB will also hold the lottery for the 2025 draft Tuesday, setting the order for the top six picks. That sequencing holds huge implications for teams as baseball’s draft continues to rise in stature and importance. The Rockies and Marlins share the top odds of landing the first overall pick.