The New York Yankees will resume their efforts to win their first World Series in 15 years on Monday night, when they host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3. As it turns out, those teams may end up competing beyond the completion of this series, too.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Dodgers will be among the teams who will have interest in signing impending free agent outfielder Juan Soto. Heyman quotes a source who says the Dodgers will be in play for Soto "if he's interested."
The Dodgers are no strangers to chasing top talent. Just last offseason, they signed Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the best two free agents of the class. Under Andrew Friedman's watch, the Dodgers have also made splashy moves (be it signings or trades) to land Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, among other household names.
Of course, the Dodgers -- if they do actually join the fray -- are expected to face steep competition from both the Yankees and the Mets, with those two teams more commonly identified as the favorites to land Soto. Other clubs that often get linked to Soto include the Washington Nationals and the Toronto Blue Jays, although it's to be seen if either can make competitive offers.
The bidding for Soto, 26 as of last week, is expected to easily clear $500 million. As CBS Sports recently noted, it's very rare for a player this young and accomplished to reach free agency, with the contemporary equivalent being Alex Rodriguez in winter 2000. Coincidentally, Soto employs the same agent that Rodriguez did then: Scott Boras.
Boras, for his part, talked to USA Today's Bob Nightengale about Soto's impending free agency, rightly pointing out that Soto's decision to pass on several extension offers over the years will soon pay off in the form of a massive free agent contract.
"The story of how he got to free agency is remarkable," Boras said. "A young Dominican kid who had to go through all of the [crap] to get to free agency. It's just a testament to his intellect, turning down $100 million, $200 million, $300 million, $400 million offers."
Soto hit .288/.419/.569 (178 OPS+) with 41 home runs, 109 runs batted in, and seven stolen bases this season. His contributions were worth an estimated 7.9 Wins Above Replacement, according to the calculations housed at Baseball-Reference.