Report: Juan Soto meets Dodgers; Giants ‘could’ be next originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes last season. Now they are reportedly about to enter the Juan Soto Lottery.
The World Series champions will meet with the star free agent outfielder on Tuesday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported, citing sources. The meeting comes just weeks after Los Angeles defeated Soto and the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic.
Soto, the prize of the free agent class this season, was scheduled to start with the Yankees on Monday after meetings with the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays, Feinsand also reported.
The other teams Soto could face include the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays, Feinsand said.
The Dodgers spent more than $1 billion on contracts last winter, signing Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernández, among others. The bulk of the spending consisted of a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million deal for Ohtani and a 12-year, $325 million deal for Yamamoto.
And the Dodgers — after posting the best regular-season record in MLB en route to capturing the franchise’s first full-season World Series title since 1988 — are seemingly willing to make another huge long-term financial commitment to add Soto to their star-studded roster.
ESPN’s Alden González said Ohtani’s first year with the Dodgers “blew away all their financial projections.” The postponement of Ohtani’s deal could also help the club with flexibility in their search for Soto.
Soto has consistently been one of the game’s top players throughout his seven-year career – and he only just turned 26 last month.
In his first season with the Yankees, Soto hit .288/.419/.569 with 41 home runs and 109 RBI in 157 games. Soto, who has played at least 150 games over the past five full MLB seasons, also earned the fourth All-Star award and fifth Silver Slugger award of his career in 2024.
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