Early Free-Agent Landing Spots for Yankees' Juan Soto amid Mets Rumors | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Atlanta was a sensible landing spot for Soto when the San Diego Padres were shopping him on the trade market, but it's harder to imagine them making a play for him in free agency.
The franchise's next nine-figure deal in free agency will be its first. And if it's ever going to happen, it will probably be at a time when its books aren't already loaded.
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers should be on the verge of finally switching off rebuilding mode. And when they do, perhaps they'll get back to running top 10 payrolls.
Then again, maybe not. It was under late owner Mike Ilitch that the Tigers were one of MLB's biggest spenders in the 2010s. His son, Christopher, has been more frugal and generally seems averse to building around a single highly paid star.
San Diego Padres
If Soto and the Padres getting back together is plausible for any reason, it's that they stand to save plenty of money after lopping almost $100 million off their 2023 payroll.
Of course, they had to do this partially because they couldn't afford last year's payroll. And with Peter Seidler having passed away, whether anyone in the club's current ownership group will be as zealous about spending remains to be seen.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers proved in 2023 that it actually is possible to build a championship team on a foundation of hired guns. With a good chunk of change set to come off their books after 2024, might they be willing to add a piece as big as Soto to their collection?
It should be plausible, but the big unknown here is what their broadcast future looks like. As it is, they only recently cut a deal with Diamond Sports Group just for 2024.
Washington Nationals
The Nationals had the league's fourth-highest payroll when, with Soto's help, they won the World Series in 2019. And after years of looking to sell the franchise, the ownership group that OK'd that payroll has decided to stick around after all.
Yet even if one takes it for granted that a return to big spending is somewhere in Washington's future, it seems unlikely that that moment will come as soon as after this season. Suffice it to say that the Nats' rebuild still needs a lot of work.
