SAN ANTONIO — Depending on whom you ran into roaming the magnificent JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa day and night Tuesday, predicted landing spots for this year’ s No. 1 MLB free agent were all over the map.

On day one of MLB’s General Manager Meetings, there was talk that Juan Soto will go back to the Yankees or jump to the Mets.

You heard the Blue Jays will be the ones driving up the price here and the Dodgers might be all in there.

You heard the Giants want Soto and think they need Soto, but won’t come close to making the best offer.

The heard the Phillies could make a big play.

You heard Soto isn’t going to get the $600 million-plus that he’s supposedly seeking because agent Scott Boras might drag this saga into 2025 and scare big-market suitors into chasing backup plans before they’re gobbled up.

More than anything, you heard this is will be a New York, New York showdown with the Yankees hoping for more than one season of Soto and the Mets eager to steal a superstar from their crosstown rival.

For the time being, nobody is winning because no team has yet to meet with Soto yet alone make a first offer.

The Yankees are viewed by most everyone as the favorites because Soto’s one season with them was all that and more, but Mets have the richest owner by a lot and Steve Cohen might be eager to add to a roster that made it to the NLCS as a wild card.

How much of a threat are the Mets?

“It’s hard to say,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. “I know they want to win. They’re in a large market with us. They had a taste of success this year and they want to move the needle even more forward. The best way to do that is import quality players to what you already have.

“So that’s what we, they and anybody interested in winning and being the last team standing has. That’s what it’s all about, trying to find great players and add it to your mix.”

Cashman, however, played down the Mets probably being able to get Soto if they really want him because Cohen’s net worth is three times higher than the Steinbrenner family’s, $21.3 billion to $7.1 billion according to Forbes.

When Cashman was asked if he’s nervous that Cohen can outspend Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, he responded, “I think that’s just the nature of the beast, (but) big-market owners with deep pockets aren’t the only ones signing players to big deals. You’ve seen the San Diego Padres sitting out in the West Coast. They’ve imported a lot of big-time players and big-time contracts that they’ve out-competed other teams of interest for.

“So it comes in various forms and various cities at various times. The market on a year in, year out basis is coming this strong from all different aspects of the baseball universe. We do our best to compete with whomever on a year in year out basis.”

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Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected].