Blue Jays heard rumors of their Juan Soto demise and said ‘watch this’

Tuesday brought some not-so-great news for the Toronto Blue Jays and their pursuit of Juan Soto in free agency. There was already reason to believe that Soto wasn't wild about going to Canada, that the team was simply a pawn for Scott Boras to use to ramp up a bidding war between the New York Mets, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Then came a column from Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich at The Athletic on Tuesday evening, reporting that Soto had begun to eliminate potential suitors from contention — and deeming the Jays "longshots" for Soto's services.

Which could all very well be true. Toronto has historically had a harder time convincing the biggest names in the sport to come play in another country, and we all remember how the pursuit of Shohei Ohtani ended just 12 months ago. But even if the odds remain slim, GM Ross Atkins and the team's ownership seem hell-bent on doing everything they can to force Soto to turn down an absolutely massive sum of money.

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Blue Jays refuse to go quietly in Juan Soto sweepstakes

Also on Tuesday, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported that the bidding for Soto had reached a third round of contract offers. While we still don't know where the Jays stand, and whether they were among the teams eliminated as Soto started narrowing his focus, it appears that Toronto took that opportunity to go very, very big.

We know that the floor in the Soto negotiations has been raised to $600 million, so whatever the Blue Jays' new offer is, we know it's at least higher than that. And we also know that they fully matched the $700 million deal that Ohtani eventually signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last winter. For Rogers Communications, one of the richest ownership groups in baseball, money is not and has never been the issue: There's a reason why sources around the league think that Toronto is going to wind up as the highest bidder for Soto when all is said and done.

The million-dollar question is whether any amount of money can be enough to convince Soto to play for a team coming off a last-place finish, with an uncertain future surrounding its two foundational stars. Maybe the answer to that question winds up being a resounding "no"; it seems like that's the direction things are headed in right now. But if that is the case, it'll be hard to pin the blame on Rogers or Atkins.