{"id":7598,"date":"2024-12-05T02:01:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T02:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=7598"},"modified":"2024-12-05T02:01:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T02:01:45","slug":"mlb-rumors-why-blue-jays-red-sox-could-be-juan-soto-smokescreen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=7598","title":{"rendered":"MLB rumors: Why Blue Jays, Red Sox could be Juan Soto &#8216;smokescreen&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dek prose mb-2.5 italic text-secondary\">Will the Blue Jays really offer Juan Soto the biggest contract?<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-row flex-wrap items-center text-primary\">\n<div class=\"author-link mr-2.5 flex items-center text-sm\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aspect-video w-full max-w-full object-contain object-center px-4 lg:px-0\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/12-04-24-soto-featured2.jpeg?w=1200\" alt=\"featured-image\" \/><\/p>\n<article class=\"article-body prose max-w-none pb-7 pt-5 prose-figure:max-w-full prose-ol:pl-10 prose-img:max-w-full prose-video:max-w-full md:prose-ol:pl-6 [&amp;_iframe]:m-auto [&amp;_iframe]:block [&amp;_iframe]:max-w-full\">It was recently reported that the\u00a0Toronto Blue Jays could end up making the largest offer\u00a0to superstar free agent\u00a0Juan Soto. The Blue Jays, along with the\u00a0Boston Red Sox\u00a0and\u00a0New York Mets\u00a0are seen as the biggest threats to the\u00a0New York Yankees in their pursuit of re-signing Soto.<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Jays potentially being prepared to offer Soto the largest contract was a surprise to many. MLB.com insider Mark Feinsand and MLB.com Mets reporter Anthony DiComo\u00a0discussed the Blue Jays reports and the state of Juan Soto&#8217;s free agency on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the Blue Jays were truly planning to blow everyone out of the water, why would they advertise that in advance,\u201d DiComo wrote. \u201cThis reeks of misdirection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAh, the misdirection. This feels like a big smokescreen,\u201d Feinsand wrote in response. \u201cGet the Blue Jays (and Red Sox?) involved to scare the Yankees about having to face him in the AL East for the next decade-plus. Get the Mets involved because they have the most money \u2014 and because the Yankees won\u2019t want to lose him to the Mets and see him on the back pages for the next decade-plus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What DiComo and Feinsand are implying is that Soto&#8217;s agent, Scott Boras, could be pulling some strings behind the scenes to try and get the Yankees to increase their offer. Like Feinsand mentions, it would be a disaster for the Yankees if Soto signed with the Blue Jays or Red Sox and stayed in the AL East or if he signed with the Mets, the Yankees&#8217; crosstown rivals.<\/p>\n<p>It is a distinct possibility that these teams are just being used as leverage by Boras to get the Yankees to increase their offer.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Juan Soto&#8217;s free agency<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3152330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3152330\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3152330\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/12-04-24-soto-image2.jpeg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/12-04-24-soto-image2.jpeg 1143w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/12-04-24-soto-image2.jpeg?resize=300,210 300w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/12-04-24-soto-image2.jpeg?resize=768,538 768w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/12-04-24-soto-image2.jpeg?resize=1024,717 1024w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/12-04-24-soto-image2.jpeg?resize=150,105 150w\" alt=\"New York Yankees right fielder Juan Soto (22) hits an RBI double against the Toronto Blue Jays during the fifth inning at Rogers Centre.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"717\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3152330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Soto&#8217;s free agency could be coming to an end sooner than expected. There is a chance that he makes his final free agency decision before the Winter Meetings start on Monday.<\/p>\n<article class=\"article-body prose max-w-none pb-7 pt-5 prose-figure:max-w-full prose-ol:pl-10 prose-img:max-w-full prose-video:max-w-full md:prose-ol:pl-6 [&amp;_iframe]:m-auto [&amp;_iframe]:block [&amp;_iframe]:max-w-full\">The latest reports suggests that\u00a0Soto&#8217;s contract will be worth over $600 million, and that any team still in contention to sign Soto is prepared to go above that number.<\/p>\n<p>At just 26 years of age, Soto is already one of, if not the best hitter in baseball. Soto had one of the best seasons of his young career with the Yankees in 2024. He slashed .288\/.419\/.569 while hitting a career-high 41 home runs, driving in 109 runs, drawing 129 walks and scoring an American League-leading 128 runs.<\/p>\n<p>It will soon be revealed whether or not teams like the Blue Jays and Red Sox truly had a shot at signing Soto, or were just being used as what Feinsand described as a \u201csmokescreen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Will the Blue Jays really offer Juan Soto the biggest contract? It was recently reported that the\u00a0Toronto Blue Jays could end up making the largest offer\u00a0to superstar&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MLB rumors: Why Blue Jays, Red Sox could be Juan Soto &#039;smokescreen&#039; - 24\/7 News America<\/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:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=7598\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MLB rumors: Why Blue Jays, Red Sox could be Juan Soto &#039;smokescreen&#039; - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will the Blue Jays really offer Juan Soto the biggest contract? 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