Yankees reportedly see one team as ‘the real threat’ to sign Juan Soto

All-Star outfielder Juan Soto insisted before the ongoing World Series involving his New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers that representing the Yankees this season has “been one of the most fun years I ever played” during his MLB career.

Stories nevertheless continue to link Soto with the New York Mets, and MLB insider Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Sunday that “Yankees people see the Mets (and maybe the Toronto Blue Jays) as the real threat in the Soto derby, and they don’t believe Soto wants to return to Southern California any more than Shohei Ohtani wanted to come to New York.”

The Yankees reportedly learned “early into the free-agent signing period” last fall before they acquired Soto from the San Diego Padres that Ohtani didn’t want to call New York home. Ohtani eventually agreed to defer $68M of his $70M salary through the 2033 campaign to leave the Los Angeles Angels and sign with the Dodgers, and Heyman said that the structure of that deal will allow the Dodgers to “make a play for Soto ‘if he’s interested'” once the 26-year-old hits the open market next month.

However, Heyman added that a Yankees person said Soto choosing the Dodgers over either the Bronx Bombers or the Mets will “never happen” because the slugger allegedly prefers “to be on the East Coast.”

The Mets completed an underwhelming offseason last winter and were 24-35 on the night of June 2 before they turned things around. They ultimately became one of the positive surprises of the 2024 campaign en route to pushing the Dodgers to a sixth game in the National League Championship Series. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters last week he has “pretty much the entirety of the player universe” available to him this offseason thanks to numerous contracts coming off the books along with the willingness of team owner Steve Cohen to spend big in his pursuit of a championship.

Multiple reporters believe Soto will “sign with the highest bidder” even though he’s enjoyed his time with the Yankees and is seemingly happy in New York. It remains to be seen if the Dodgers will outbid Cohen and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner during what could become a fascinating free-agency journey.