4 looming 2025 free agents who won’t be back thanks to Juan Soto’s contract

When Juan Soto reached free agency, expectations were high in terms of the contract he'd get. He entered the open market as a 26-year-old coming off arguably his best season looking to earn record-breaking money. Expectations were high, yet he shattered them.

Soto wound up signing a 15-year deal with the New York Mets worth $765 million. If the Mets choose to void his opt-out in 2030, the total value of the deal can eclipse the $800 million mark. To put into perspective just how crazy this contract is, Shohei Ohtani signed a $700 million deal to join the Los Angeles Dodgers last offseason with all but $20 million of it deferred. None of Soto's money is deferred. The present-day value of this contract blows Ohtani's out of the water.

Soto signing this deal with several teams in the mix suggests that prices will only keep skyrocketing. Sure, it's possible that nobody matches or tops Soto's deal for a while considering how young and elite of a player he is, but these four soon-to-be free agents might earn so much in their next contract to the point where they won't be back with their current teams in 2026.

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4. Marcell Ozuna will earn more money elsewhere

Near the beginning of Marcell Ozuna's four-year, $65 million deal with the Atlanta Braves, it looked like one of the worst contracts in all of baseball. Not only was he struggling on the field, but he had several off-field issues as well. There was reason to believe after he had just five hits in 59 at-bats in April of the 2023 season (.085 BA) that the Braves would just release him outright. They elected to hold on to him, and are glad that they did.

Ozuna finished that 2023 campaign performing like one of the best hitters in the National League, and he followed that up with an even better 2024 season. Ozuna slashed .302/.378/.546 with 39 home runs and 104 RBI. The Braves offense might've taken a step back, but Ozuna was one of the few who actually exceeded expectations. He was an All-Star and finished fourth in the NL MVP balloting while also appearing in all 162 regular season games.

Thanks to his brilliance at the plate it was an easy decision for the Braves to exercise his $16 million club option to bring him back for 2025, but there's reason to believe that this is his last season in a Braves uniform.

Ozuna is 34 years old and, at this point in his career, is a DH only. If he has a repeat of the year he just had or does anything close to it, the Braves almost certainly won't pay him what he's worth on the open market (and it's tough to blame them.) Remember, this is the same franchise that watched players like Freddie Freeman, Max Fried, and Dansby Swanson walk in free agency. Alex Anthopoulos will find a cheaper (and perhaps better) alternative like he always seems to, instead of paying Ozuna market value or even close to it, considering his age and his inability to play the field.

3. The Brewers are unlikely to pay Devin Williams what he's worth

Forget his implosion in the ninth inning of the NL Wild Card series decider. Devin Williams is one of the best relievers in all of baseball. The numbers back it up.

This past season saw Williams miss the first half of the season due to a back injury, but in the 22 regular season appearances he was able to make, he posted a 1.25 ERA. He allowed a total of three runs on 10 hits with a whopping 38 strikeouts in 21.2 innings of work. He converted 14 of his 15 save opportunities.

Yes, he's struggled in two of his three career postseason appearances, but his 2.41 career ERA across six seasons shows how dominant of a reliever he has always been. His change-up might just be the best individual pitch in the game.

The Milwaukee Brewers would love to keep him around, but that's almost certainly not going to happen. This is the same franchise that traded Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader before they hit free agency to ensure they got value in return before they could walk for nothing. They did let Willy Adames walk for nothing. The Brewers don't have the funds to pay high-end talent (with rare exceptions), and they almost certainly won't use the money that they do have to pay a reliever when they're as good as they are at developing pitching.

It would not be surprising to see Williams get traded before or in the middle of the 2025 season.

2. Every Blue Jays miss makes it more likely that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won't be back

It's safe to say that the 2024 offseason has gotten off to a rough start for the Toronto Blue Jays. They were in on Juan Soto but missed. They were in on Max Fried but missed. The New York Yankees got Fried, and the Boston Red Sox won the Garrett Crochet sweepstakes. All the Blue Jays have to show for those big moves is a Yimi Garcia signing and an Andres Gimenez trade.

Garcia and Gimenez make the Jays marginally better, but this is a team that won just 74 games last season. They need needle-moving moves to get back into postseason contention, and if they strike out on Corbin Burnes, there might not be a needle-moving move out there.

As bad as this past season was for the Blue Jays, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was a bright spot. He performed like the MVP-caliber player that the Jays envisioned. He also raised his price significantly in the process, and now, with the 25-year-old entering his final year of club control, Jays fans can only wonder just how much his price has risen from the Soto signing.

No, Guerrero won't match Soto's deal, especially as a first baseman, but given the fact that he'll be 26 years old as a free agent and potentially coming off another monster season, the question of will the Jays outbid the field for him must be asked. The question of whether Guerrero will even want to remain north of the border if the team has another down year in 2025 must also be asked.

An extension is the dream, but why would Guerrero entertain that after the bidding war that he saw Soto go through? If he enters the open market, the chances of him remaining with the Blue Jays go down exponentially.

1. Kyle Tucker might not even be back with the Astros for the 2025 season

Easily the most surprising name to enter the trade market this offseason is Kyle Tucker. Sure, he's entering his final year of club control, but the Houston Astros are in win-now mode. Trading Tucker makes it a lot less likely that the Astros will win in 2025, even if that enables them to bring Alex Bregman back.

With that being said, though, Tucker is on the block, and given the sheer volume of rumors, there's reason to believe that the Astros actually will trade him.

Whether he's traded or not remains to be seen, but the fact that Houston is even considering it suggests that they don't feel confident about his chances of remaining with the organization long-term, and it's hard to blame them.

Owner Jim Crane has always resisted the urge to give massive long-term deals out, and he let players like Carlos Correa, George Springer, and Gerrit Cole walk because of that. Jose Altuve's six-year extension worth $157.5 million that he signed after the 2017 season is the richest contract Crane has ever handed out, and Tucker might earn four or five times that thanks to Soto's deal.

Tucker likely won't match Soto, but a contract worth $500 million or more doesn't feel unrealistic. Barring a massive change of heart from ownership, the Astros won't be giving him that contract.