{"id":9603,"date":"2024-11-18T00:30:13","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T00:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=9603"},"modified":"2024-11-18T00:30:13","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T00:30:13","slug":"the-juan-soto-bidding-war-has-begun-can-boras-get-the-slugger-700-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=9603","title":{"rendered":"The Juan Soto Bidding War Has Begun. Can Boras Get the Slugger $700 Million?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Free agent superstar Juan Soto met with billionaire New York Mets owner Steve Cohen on Saturday in California as the Amazins try to nab the top player in this offseason\u2019s free agent class.<\/p>\n

Cohen, along with Mets president David Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza, met with Soto and his agent Scott Boras at an \u201cundisclosed location\u201d on the West Coast, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.<\/p>\n

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\"The
At the age of 20, Juan Soto helped lead the Washington Nationals to their first World Series win in 2019, including with a clutch game-tying home run off Justin Verlander in the seventh inning of Game 6. (Image Credit: All-Pro Reels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Sources told Heyman the meetings went well. The Mets are reportedly \u201chopeful\u201d about their odds of landing Soto. Boras and Soto will meet with the New York Yankees as early as Monday, followed by the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

Carlos Baerga, a former Boras client, reportedly claims that the Mets offered Soto a $660 million contract, according to reporter H\u00e9ctor G\u00f3mez.<\/p>\n

But reports about Soto\u2019s future should be taken with a grain of salt. They\u2019re likely to contain bits and pieces of information fed to journalists by Soto\u2019s agent Boras to incite a bidding war for his client.<\/p>\n

Boras has successfully deployed strategic leaks over his 44-year career. But will they work this time around with the Soto talks?<\/p>\n

The Scott Boras Game<\/h2>\n

Boras is a master narrative shaper. He was already working at it when Soto and the Yankees faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, telling journalists that Soto was \u201cthe Mona Lisa of the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boras also appeared to try to bring Soto\u2019s former club, the San Diego Padres, back into the scramble for the right fielder. During the World Series, he told USA Today that if Padres owner Peter Seidler \u201cwere still alive, none of this would be happening.\u201d Soto, he said, \u201cwould have been with the Padres\u201d and \u201cnever would have been traded to the Yankees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
Past and present Scott Boras clients have included baseball\u2019s biggest names: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa, Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, and Greg Maddux. (Image Credit: MissChatter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, it\u2019s pretty bold \u2014 and, arguably, distasteful \u2014\u00a0for an agent to say that his client would have never been with his current team while they\u2019re playing on baseball\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the first time Boras has played his Machiavellian games during the World Series.<\/p>\n

In 2007, during Game 4 of the World Series, Boras announced his then-client Alex Rodriguez was opting out of his $252 million-10-year contract with the Yankees with three years remaining. In the offseason, Rodriguez ended up re-signing with the Yankees for a record $275 million, 10-year deal. But three years later, he parted ways with Boras.<\/p>\n

\"The
Former Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez during the MLB on Fox pre-game show on Oct. 16, 2024, with ex-Red Sox rival David Ortiz seated next to him. Rodriguez, once one of Scott Boras\u2019s biggest clients, famously parted ways with the agent in 2010, three years after Boras announced mid-World Series that Rodriguez was opting out of his $252 million contract with the Yankees \u2014 a move that led to widespread backlash. (Image Credit: D. Benjamin Miller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alongside media leaks, Boras\u2019s tactics include protracted contract negotiations extending close to Opening Day. But there are signs that the 71-year-old\u2019s ways may be aging.<\/p>\n

In the previous offseason, four Boras clients \u2014 Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, and Matt Chapman \u2014 ended up getting contracts that fell short of market expectations.<\/p>\n

Boras was fired by Montgomery, who claimed that the agent \u201ckind of butchered\u201d a potential deal with the Boston Red Sox. Though his lights-out pitching helped propel the Texas Rangers to their 2023 World Series win, Montgomery ended up signing a one-year, $25-million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks just days before the start of the 2024 season. Instead of sitting comfortably at home on a multi-year deal, the 31-year-old Montgomery is in the open market this offseason after finishing a poor 2024 season with a 6.23 ERA.<\/p>\n

Soto Is a Generational Talent With Some Gaping Holes in His Game<\/h2>\n

One thing is clear: Juan Soto will get his payday. The 26-year-old is a generational talent entering his prime playing years.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Soto hit .288 this year, popped 41 home runs, and drove in 109 runs. He actually hit above .300 for most of the season before dropping off in late August. Like Aaron Judge, Soto exhibited great plate discipline, coming in second after the Yankees captain with 129 walks.<\/p>\n

On the year, Soto was also sixth in the majors with a 7.9 WAR and second with a .419 on-base percentage.<\/p>\n

Few can forget Juan Soto\u2019s three-run homer in Game 5 of the ALCS, where he battled Hunter Gaddis, fouled off four off-speed pitches, and launched a 95-mph fastball into the seats.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

While Judge has been a no-show in the playoffs, Soto has delivered clutch performances since his teenage years.<\/p>\n

But the right fielder has some deficiencies in his game. He\u2019s often a liability in the outfield and on the bases.<\/p>\n

In Game 1 of the 2024 World Series, Soto misplayed a Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez hit, turning what would have been a double into a triple, paving the way for a Dodgers sac-fly run.<\/p>\n

This offseason, Soto may make another costly error: letting Boras overplay his hand.<\/p>\n

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The Globely News team tracks the leaders, states, networks, ideologies, and technologies that are reshaping the world order. From AI and electric vehicles to the rise of China, we’ve got you covered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top MLB free agent Juan Soto met with Mets owner Steve Cohen as agent Scott Boras aims to spark a bidding war with the Yankees and Red Sox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Juan Soto Bidding War Has Begun. Can Boras Get the Slugger $700 Million? - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=9603\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Juan Soto Bidding War Has Begun. 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