Juan Soto Rumors: Mets Among Teams to Check in on Yankees Star After World Series

Teams did not waste any time touching base with Juan Soto in the aftermath of the New York Yankees' season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series.

Per Mike Puma of the New York Post, the New York Mets are believed to be among roughly a dozen teams that checked in on the four-time All-Star after MLB free agency began on Thursday.

The Mets have been connected to Soto since before the start of the 2024 season. USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported in February they were "expected to strongly pursue" him as a free agent.

Soto, who is hitting free agency for the first time, sounds like he is going to enjoy this process. He said after Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday that he will be open to all 30 teams.

Even though Soto would be a perfect fit for all 30 clubs, we know there are only going to be so many teams that are going to make a realistic contract offer that will get him to the negotiating table.

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Soto is seeking a deal of at least $700 million that would tie Shohei Ohtani for the richest in MLB history. Ohtani's deal with the Dodgers is structured so that he only makes $20 million over the next 10 years before getting $68 million annually from 2034 to '43 to reduce the present-day value and give the team more financial flexibility under the competitive balance tax.

According to Heyman, Soto's camp is not looking for those types of deferrals in his contract.

MLB.com analysts predicted in September that the top suitors for Soto would likely be the Mets, Yankees, San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals.

The Giants have been trying to sign a superstar for years with no success, including Aaron Judge when he was a free agent two years ago. The Nationals have an intriguing young core of talent with CJ Abrams, Dylan Crews and James Wood, but they already had Soto and traded him after he turned down a 15-year, $440 million extension in the summer of 2022.

It would seem like the two New York teams are the favorites for Soto at this point, but it's still too early to know anything that's going to happen.

The Yankees potentially losing the 26-year-old superstar after reaching the World Series, especially to the team that plays in the same city, would be great theater. His teammates made it clear they hope he comes back, but owner Hal Steinbrenner did suggest earlier this year that he could look to cut payroll.

Mets owner Steve Cohen isn't shy about spending money to add talent. He might be even more incentivized to do so after the club surged in the second half of the season and advanced to the NLCS before losing to the Dodgers in six games.

Players of Soto's ability don't hit the market very often, so every team should be falling all over themselves to add him. He hit .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 homers in 157 starts for the Yankees this season.