The sweepstakes to sign Juan Soto was packed with powerful teams, and Soto confirmed during an interview with Abriendo Sports that five of them made the final cut.
Those teams?
The Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Dodgers.
That those five clubs were the finalists is not a surprise, but one other thing Soto said during the interview will raise some eyebrows.
“The Mets didn’t offer the most money,” Soto said, speaking in Spanish, noting that “some teams offered more.”
SNY’s Andy Martino reported on Friday, citing sources with direct knowledge of the Soto negotiations, that it was “clear multiple teams, including Boston, had a willingness to exceed high offer if they knew Soto would agree.”
Before agreeing to a 15-year deal with the Mets for $765 million, which is the largest deal in professional sports history, Soto received a 16-year, $760 million offer from the Yankees. That offer was $5 million below the Mets’ winning bid and $3.5 million lower yearly in terms of average annual value.
As far as the Dodgers, their final offer to Soto was $600 million, per The Athletic.
Per multiple reports, Boston’s final offer for Soto was around $700 million.
That leaves the Blue Jays, who offered under $700 million for Soto, according to SportsNet.
It’s possible a team or teams that didn’t make the final cut offered more — either in total or annually — for Soto.
It’s also possible one of the final five teams aside from the Mets offered more annually, floated a number that wasn’t officially offered, or conveyed a willingness to go higher (as Martino noted was possible).
Either way, Soto is now a Met.
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