Final Juan Soto power rankings in the week he's expected to sign

Predictably, all eyes have been on Juan Soto ever since the World Series ended. His free agency decision has the chance to change the MLB landscape entirely.

While everyone has been trying to learn as much as possible about what Soto is looking for and where he's leaning, information has been hard to come by (from reputable reporters, at least).

While teams like the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers have been linked to Soto, it feels as if the 26-year-old will land with either the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, or Boston Red Sox. Those four teams have been linked to him the most, and have officially presented at least two offers Soto's way.

As of now, there's no reason to believe that any of those four teams are out. However, with a Soto decision expected to come by next week's Winter Meetings at the latest, here's the order of where Soto might sign in terms of likeliness based on the information that has been reported.

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4) The Blue Jays will need to blow Juan Soto away to convince him to come to Toronto

The Toronto Blue Jays being in the mix for Soto isn't a surprise considering their push to sign Shohei Ohtani last offseason, but they don't have much going in their favor.

First of all, the team's best player, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is only under club control through the 2025 season. Soto would get to play with Guerrero, a friend of his, for the 2025 season, but who's to say whether Guerrero would be there long-term?

As if Guerrero's future being murky wasn't bad enough, this Jays team won just 74 games this past season. Soto would make them better, but would the Jays be the AL East frontrunners if they got him? Would they be a realistic bet to win the World Series? Bo Bichette's control expiring after 2025 adds a whole other wrinkle as well.

Soto can still sign with the Jays, considering the money they have to offer him, but barring Toronto offering far more than any other team, it's just unlikely. The team isn't as good as the others on the list, neither is the farm system, and Guerrero's future being up in the air is too hard to ignore.

3) The Red Sox are a bigger threat than anyone expected them to be

The idea of Juan Soto leaving the Yankees to join their biggest rivals — the Boston Red Sox — was an exciting one, in theory, but there was little reason to believe that would actually happen considering the lack of spending Red Sox ownership has done in recent years. I mean, this is the same franchise that traded Mookie Betts away instead of paying him. Why would we believe that they were going to be the team that pays Soto possibly double what Betts got?

Well, fast forward to now, and the Red Sox appear to be legitimately serious about their Soto pursuit. They've met with him and have handed out at least one offer. The Red Sox have been so prevalent, in fact, to the point where social media has run with the idea of Soto signing there, for better or for worse.

The Red Sox have a ballpark that'd fit him quite well, a solid core of position players, and exciting prospects in the pipeline. If the Red Sox are seriously willing to spend like they once did, there isn't much that they can't offer Soto from a baseball perspective.

Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, though, it's still just really hard to envision John Henry and Co. outbidding the field. It can happen, but until it does, the Red Sox won't be seen as actual favorites here. If Soto is going to take less to sign anywhere, it probably won't be Boston.

2) Steve Cohen will have to pony up to convince Juan Soto to come to the Mets

At the end of the day, it's looking like this is going to shape up exactly as expected. Both the New York Mets and New York Yankees were seen as the favorites to sign Soto entering the offseason, and little has been leaked to change that view.

The Mets are one of the favorites to sign Soto for the simple reason that they have the richest owner in all of baseball. Not only does Steve Cohen have more money than the other teams, but he's shown more of a willingness to spend it than the competition.

If the Mets offer Soto the most money, there isn't much that they can't offer him. They just went to the NLCS, are in the New York market, and have a core in place to win sustainably. They might not have the Yankees' history, but the Mets check just about every other box.

When all is said and done, this will come down to the money. The Mets have the most of it, but will Steve Cohen offer enough of it to persuade Soto to come to Queens? It's entirely possible, if not likely, but one recent report suggesting that the Mets will not be the highest bidders for Soto is enough to bump them to No. 2 for now. For them to win, that's almost certainly going to have to change.

1) The Yankees remain the favorites to win the Juan Soto sweepstakes

The New York Yankees were seen as probable favorites to sign Soto before the offseason began, and they should still be viewed as favorites right now.

The main question to ask here is why would Soto leave? The Yankees just won the AL Pennant, Aaron Judge is locked in long-term, and Soto already had arguably his best season while wearing a Yankees uniform.

The No. 1 concern that Yankees fans should have is that Hal Steinbrenner won't offer him enough money, but how much of a concern should that be? Do we really expect the New York Yankees to be outbid by their AL East rivals or their crosstown rivals? It's one thing to lose Soto to a team completely irrelevant to the Bronx Bombers, but it's another entirely to watch him stay in their division with another team or in the same city while wearing a different uniform.

If Steinbrenner won't match, there's a good chance he'll get close enough to the top offer to convince Soto to re-sign. Things can change, but until a report suggests Soto will depart, there's no reason to believe that he actually will.