As it seems like the Juan Soto sweepstakes that has left baseball fans enraptured for a month now might be coming to a close right alongside the start of the MLB Winter Meetings. What’s made it particularly frenetic leading up to the finish line, however, is that all five of the teams in the bidding — New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers — all appear to still have a chance.

But some teams might be more out of it than we thought based on the latest rumors surrounding Soto.

On Saturday evening, ESPN Deportes reporter Enrique Rojas, in the wake of the Giants signing Willy Adames, received a reply about the Yankees getting Soto to re-sign. His reply was succinct but also absolutely gut-wrenching for fans of the Pinstripes. Translated, Rojas reported, “Yankees are neither a 1 nor a 2 favorite to sign Soto.”

Uh-oh, Yankees fans.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB offseason.

If the Yankees are indeed not one of the top two favorites to sign Juan Soto, that could leave Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman scrambling for answers in a major way. Obviously, New York still has Aaron Judge as their superstar but that clearly wasn’t enough to get over the World Series hump this past season. And replacing Soto in that lineup would be truly impossible, especially when considering the 26-year-old’s future outlook.

What’s more, New York already has at least one Soto contingency plan off the board. Adames was rumored to be a Plan B for the Yankees in the event that Soto signs elsewhere. Now that he’s inked a deal with San Francisco, they would surely have to turn the attention to Anthony Santander, Pete Alonso, or a number of other marquee free agent sluggers.

Contrary to the Yankees, though, this report could be huge news for the Mets and Red Sox. We know that the Dodgers have not met the same lucrative $700M-plus offers that other clubs have on the table, which would lead you to believe they’re playing from behind. The same is true of the Blue Jays, a franchise wherein the future is a bit murky with both Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette potentially walking after this season.

So that would then leave the Mets and Red Sox as the top two teams in the running for Soto, which would make sense. With Steve Cohen’s money in Queens and John Henry stepping up to make Boston real players this offseason, those two organizations may be the best baseball and long-term fits for Soto.

With so much information floating about regarding Soto, it’s difficult to say whether or not the Yankees are actually playing catch-up or are destined to fall behind their competition in these sweepstakes. At the very least, though, it’s a rumor to keep back-of-mind as things progress toward the superstar putting his name on a dotted line sooner rather than later.