Contract Offers For Juan Soto Are In, And One Team's Already Upped Their Offer

The prize of the 2024-2025 Major League Baseball offseason is unquestionably Juan Soto, after arguably the best offensive season of his career. Soto, just 26-years-old, offers a rare combination of youth, experience, and exceptional hitting talent.

Unsurprisingly, contract offers heading into the free agency period were expected to be massive. And after hosting a number of teams in Newport Beach to get to know team personnel and ownership, Soto and his agent Scott Boras have reportedly asked interested parties to submit offers.

Per Randy Miller and Jon Morosi, five teams have put in their first offers: the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.

And whatever the numbers and contract length were, they were apparently not high enough. Per another report on Tuesday, one team's already increased their offer.

CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 19: Juan Soto #22 of the New York Yankees celebrates after hitting a home run in the 10th inning against the Cleveland Guardians during Game Five of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field on October 19, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Juan Soto Offers Expected To Go Through Multiple Rounds

Hector Gomez posted on X Tuesday morning that the Red Sox have already increased their offer, both in length and money, from when they submitted it.

It already sounds like the numbers we wind up seeing for Soto could be astronomical. Especially because this is just the first of "multiple rounds" of bidding. Brendan Kuty from The Athletic also posted on X Tuesday morning that the first round is "expected to be ‘preliminary,’ meant to gauge genuine interest from all parties. The following offers/rounds, which could start around next week, are expected to become increasingly more serious, weeding out candidates and seemingly point toward a Winter Meetings-ish decision timeframe."

So this is the first round of bidding, with several more to come over the next few weeks, and one team has already felt the need to up their offer to stay in the hunt. Crazy.

It does show that the Red Sox are serious in their desire to pursue top-level free agents after years of eschewing big investments. And that they're ready to move out of the bottom half of the American League East. Similarly, it's surprising that the Dodgers haven't felt the need to do so as well, showing that they're serious about pursuing Soto, even with last year's spending spree and a World Series win in 2024.

One rumor suggested that Soto is hoping to get close to 15 years and $700 million. Tuesday's reports seem to imply that might not be as unreasonable as it sounds.