{"id":8286,"date":"2024-12-07T02:29:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T02:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286"},"modified":"2024-12-07T02:29:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T02:29:08","slug":"juan-soto-would-prefer-boston-heres-one-big-reason-why-latest-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286","title":{"rendered":"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Juan Soto without baseball cap\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Juan Soto<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The race among a reported five MLB teams to sign superstar free agent outfielder Juan Soto is coming down to the wire. Soto\u2019s decision is expected to come\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-yankees\/yankees-still-in-running-juan-soto-signing-decision-expected-by-sunday-passan\/\">as early as Sunday<\/a>. According to most sources, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/12\/05\/betting\/juan-soto-next-team-odds-yankees-losing-ground-in-free-agency-battle-with-mets-red-sox\/\">the betting market oddsmakers<\/a>, the most probable destinations for Soto are New York or Boston.<\/p>\n<p>In New York, both the Yankees and Mets are rated as equally likely to land Soto. In fact, the odds posted by Bovada \u2014 an online sports betting\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinomeister.com\/blog\/where-is-bovada-based-out-of\/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20notable,need%20to%20follow%20specific%20regulations.\">site based in Costa Rica<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 have the Mets and Yankees as co-favorites in the Soto sweepstakes with odds of -125, meaning bettors would need to put up $125 to win $100. The Red Sox have the next-best odds at +250, meaning a bet of $100 would bring back a $250 profit.<\/p>\n<p>But there may be one very important reason why Soto may \u201cprefer\u201d Boston. Not surprisingly, it involves money.<\/p>\n<h2>Soto Reported to \u2018Prefer\u2019 Signing With Red Sox<\/h2>\n<p>But on Friday morning a Boston baseball insider who hosts a sports talk program on local station WJDA there, reported that he had heard Soto \u201cwould prefer\u201d Boston.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Marino_Pepen\/status\/1865043440662168000\">Mario Pep\u00e9n, who broadcasts<\/a>\u00a0to the Spanish-language market, added that Boston would need to match or top the best offer received by Soto from any other team.<\/p>\n<p>According to the insider, however, the Red Sox are so serious about meeting that requirement and obtaining Soto\u2019s services for 2025 and possibly for the rest of the 26-year-old\u2019s career, that team owner John Henry is now directly involved in negotiations. Henry is trying to get the deal done with Scott Boras, Soto\u2019s high-powered agent.<\/p>\n<p>Pep\u00e9n\u2019s report has not been independently confirmed, meaning it remains in the category of\u00a0 rumor. According to Boston sports\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MattCouture5\/status\/1865044894181409124\">podcast host Matt Couture<\/a>, Pep\u00e9n\u2019s report should be interpreted to mean that \u201cSoto wants Boston but needs them to up their offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As of Wednesday, the Red Sox\u2019 offer to Soto was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/boston-red-sox\/juan-soto-signing-red-sox-new-bid-tops-600-million-soto-now-ruling-out-teams\/\">reported to top $600 million<\/a>, but the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/42799090\/mlb-free-agency-2024-25-juan-soto-contract-predictions-signing-date-yankees-mets-red-sox-blue-jays-dodgers\">consensus among MLB experts<\/a> is now that $600 million won\u2019t be enough.<\/p>\n<h2>Contract Total Could Reach $700 Million<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThere are rumors of $700 million, if not more,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/42799090\/mlb-free-agency-2024-25-juan-soto-contract-predictions-signing-date-yankees-mets-red-sox-blue-jays-dodgers\">said ESPN baseball analyst<\/a>\u00a0Jorge Castillo in an interview on the network. \u201cMakes sense. Soto\u2019s combination of age \u2014 he\u2019s still just 26 years old \u2014 and hitting ability hasn\u2019t been seen in free agency since Alex Rodriguez in 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While many experts stop short of predicting that Soto\u2019s contract will exceed the $700 million threshold, there seems little remaining doubt that the figure will land well beyond $600 million.<\/p>\n<p>Money is where Boston may have an advantage over New York, and may be one big reason why Soto \u201cwould prefer\u201d signing there. If Boston can come close to matching an offer from one of the New York teams, the state of Massachusetts has a significant tax advantage over New York for high earners \u2014 like Major League Baseball superstars.<\/p>\n<h2>Soto Takes Home More Cash in Boston Due to Tax Laws<\/h2>\n<p>Due to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.daypitney.com\/insights\/publications\/2023\/11\/fog5-ma-releases-millionaires-tax-guidance\/\">\u201cmillionaire\u2019s tax\u201d law<\/a>\u00a0in Massachusetts passed in 2022, the state charges a 5 percent flat tax rate on all income up to $1 million, and then tacks on a 4 percent surtax for income exceeding $1 million.<\/p>\n<p>In New York, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiplinger.com\/taxes\/most-expensive-states-for-millionaires\">tax rate on higher incomes<\/a>\u00a0is 10.3 percent, with an additional 3.876 percent added for New York City residents. That\u2019s a total of more than 14 percent in tax out of Soto\u2019s New York paycheck, compared to approximately nine percent in Boston. Over the course of a contract exceeding $600 million, Soto could take home millions more in Boston than in New York with the same contract dollar figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Juan Soto &nbsp; The race among a reported five MLB teams to sign superstar free agent outfielder Juan Soto is coming down to the wire. Soto\u2019s decision&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8286","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>Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors - 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=8286\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Juan Soto &nbsp; The race among a reported five MLB teams to sign superstar free agent outfielder Juan Soto is coming down to the wire. Soto\u2019s decision...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-07T02:29:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286\",\"name\":\"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-07T02:29:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-07T02:29:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg\",\"width\":780,\"height\":438},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"Juan Soto &nbsp; The race among a reported five MLB teams to sign superstar free agent outfielder Juan Soto is coming down to the wire. Soto\u2019s decision...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2024-12-07T02:29:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":438,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286","name":"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-07T02:29:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-07T02:29:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Latest-Juan-Soto-Red-Sox-Rumors.jpg","width":780,"height":438},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=8286#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Juan Soto \u2018Would Prefer\u2019 Boston, Here\u2019s One Big Reason Why: Latest Rumors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8288,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8286\/revisions\/8288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}