Juan Soto's camp is expected to start receiving contract offers this week, according to ESPN's Buster Olney.
According to Olney, all meetings that have taken place so far with Soto and his agent, Scott Boras, have been more get-to-know-you than discussing contractual terms:
Sources involved in the Juan Soto talks expect the teams will begin forwarding offers this week. To date, the process has been about Soto meeting with teams/club officials, and about those officials getting to know Soto.
To this point, Soto has reportedly met with the incumbent New York Yankees, along with the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported on Nov. 19 that while the Phillies hadn't yet met with Soto and Boras, the plan was to do that. It's unclear whether that meeting has taken place or not.
Even if the Phillies have met with Soto, they likely face an uphill battle to signing the 26-year-old superstar. Managing partner John Middleton acknowledged last month that he believes Soto is most likely to sign with one of the two New York teams.
"I'm afraid Juan Soto wants to be in New York, and I don't mind being a stalking horse, " Middleton said, according to Conor Smith of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"At some point, if Dave and I get that feeling, we'll probably say 'You know what, we're not going to win this' because we've both been the stalking horse before. And if I were an agent, I would do it too. It's perfectly good strategy. I mean, it's smart. But at the end of the day, I just think he likes New York."
The good news is that Soto's free agency doesn't appear to be likely to drag out as Bryce Harper's did six years ago. MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported last week that "the feeling around the industry" is that Soto could sign his deal before the MLB Winter Meetings open on Dec. 9.
Lucky isn't the right word. But Juan Soto's free agency shows how fortunate the Phillies were with Bryce Harper.
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