When all is said and done this offseason, Juan Soto is going to be a very rich man.
The five-time Silver Slugger winner has been the talk of free agency, and, as The Post’s Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman have reported, there is an expectation that Soto’s megadeal will exceed $600 million mark.
Last week, Heyman reported that Soto has a chance to set a contract value record when the ink is dried, thanks in part to Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million Dodgers contract, which is valued at around $450 million because 97 percent of the money being deferred interest-free.
There is another expectation that Soto can wrap up his highly anticipated free agency by the time the Winter Meetings in Dallas end next Thursday — or even before that.
The Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Dodgers are all in the mix for the 26-year-old superstar with things seemingly near a tipping point in the sweepstakes.
Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, said Tuesday at Blake Snell’s introductory Dodgers press conference that the four-time All-Star has begun the process of “eliminating” teams from contention, though it’s not clear which organizations Soto has decided to pass on yet.
Boras added that a decision isn’t “imminent.”
“When you’re going through these things, he’s just got a lot of information to meld through,” Boras said. “We’ve had meetings with a number of franchises. He’s begun the process of eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll see, but I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.”
The Yankees, just last week, upped their bid for Soto, who is looking for somewhere in the ballpark of a 15-year deal.
A shorter-team contract likely doesn’t interest Soto, Heyman added.
Steve Cohen, the Mets’ deep-pocketed owner, didn’t offer anything illuminating over Soto when asked about his free agency last Monday.
“Listen, we’re gonna find out. It’s either yes or no. There’s no in-between. Time will tell,” Cohen said.
Soto, already an annual MVP candidate, put on a show in New York in 2024, slugging a career-high 41 homers with a .288/.419/.569 slash line to help the Yankees win their first American League pennant in 15 years.
For his career, Soto has .953 OPS and 160 OPS+, meaning he’s 60 percent better than the league average.
Already an incredible talent with the bat, Soto will couple that with a cash haul in due time.
