As the Boston Red Sox front office continues to send out signals that this will be a busy and aggressive offseason to vault the franchise into contention, we know the refrain of this team’s needs. They need starting pitching, they need bullpen help, they need a right-handed bat (or two). And yet, the white whale of free agency remains the same for the Red Sox as any other big-market team: Juan Soto.

Along with the incumbent Yankees, deep-pocketed Mets and now the sleeper Blue Jays, there has been a consistent drumbeat from several MLB insiders, including ESPN’s Jeff Passan and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, that the Red Sox will be in on Soto.

There is reason for Red Sox fan to approach that connection with trepidation. The scars for anyone who believed the “full-throttle” message of last offseason are still fresh. And even though Craig Breslow has taken over for Chaim Bloom, it’s been many years since the Boston front office has been aggressive on the free agency and trade markets. So that turning on a dime to pay Juan Soto a $600-700 million contract is something that needs to be believed.

Despite all of that, there are reasons to be optimistic. That might actually start with an old interview with Soto that is impossible not to consider in this current free agency context.

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During an interview with ElPadiTV from 2021, Soto called the Red Sox his favorite ballclub, growing up watching and idolizing Dominican legends that helped lead to Boston’s 2004 and 2007 World Series victories.

“Since I was a child, my favorite MLB team was always Boston because of the Dominicans who played with them: Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Pedro [Martinez]. The Red Sox have always been my favorite team.”

Not only could it be significant that the Red Sox have been Soto’s favorite team but two of Boston’s locked-up stars right now are, of course, Rafael Devers and Brayan Bello, both of whom are Dominican. So perhaps that’s another connection that could be enticing to Soto.

For the Red Sox side of this, though, the money might not be as big of an ask as you might think either because, even if it was fruitless, they did try a year ago. According to Sean McAdam of MassLive, Boston did make a $300 million offer to Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto last offseason. That fell short and the flamethrower went to the Dodgers but it was a willingness to spend from Breslow and, more importantly, ownership.

Boston is slated to meet with Soto in the near future as one of the first organizations to get the room with the free agent slugger. And while it doesn’t fit the forecasted need for the Red Sox, if the team has the money and the willingness, you don’t say no to Juan Soto. More importantly, though, it would signal a full-bore change in mentality for the franchise, one that could pay dividends beyond Soto.

And based on an interview from just three years ago, maybe that’s more realistic of a possibility than we’ve been considering.