One Juan Soto suitor isn’t willing to pay $700 million but they're still alive anyway

With each passing report, it seems like the bidding for Juan Soto gets higher and higher. First it was $600 million, then $650 million, and now it appears that even Shohei Ohtani's record $700 million deal is in jeopardy: According to a report from the New York Post's Jon Heyman on Friday night, "at least four teams — Mets, Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays — are thought to be at least in range of that record MLB figure".

Which is maybe something we should have seen coming all along. Like Ohtani, Soto is a historically unique case; players that good simply don't hit the market that young. And like Ohtani, the richest teams in the sport all have reason to be involved, and reason to be desperate. Those four teams listed above would all send their fan bases into a panic if they miss out on the star outfielder, especially the Yankees and Mets. Combine that with Soto's desire to set a new financial precedent, and you have yourself in very rareified air.

Or so we think, at least. While most of the reporting around the Soto sweepstakes has suggested that there will be no discount coming to whichever team wants to sign him, it seems like money might not be the only thing at play here.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work onThe Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Dodgers the one finalist unwilling to meet $700 million asking price for Juan Soto

While Heyman name-checks the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays, there's another team still in the running which is noticeably absent: the Los Angeles Dodgers, who scored an in-person meeting with Soto last month and reportedly remain in the mix as the 26-year-old approaches a final decision. And yet, despite lagging behind the other interested suitors, Heyman reports that "the Dodgers are ... apparently not eliminated due to other obvious positives."

Which should send a shiver down the spine of every other team in the league. Maybe this is all just a ploy from Soto's agent, Scott Boras, who would much rather present as though the Dodgers remain in the hunt if it can squeeze some extra money out of the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox or Jays. But if not, it sure sounds like L.A. is presenting a compelling enough case that Soto is thinking about heading back out west even if it costs his bottom line.

The entire argument behind discounting the Dodgers here centered around the fact that even Los Angeles had a financial limit somewhere, especially after adding Blake Snell's $182 million deal (deferred, but still) to the books in addition to last winter's historic splurge. And it does seem like that's the case; throughout, Andrew Friedman and Co. have maintained an interest in Soto, but not so much that they're willing to match Steve Cohen or Hal Steinbrenner dollar for dollar. But it might not even matter: The Dodgers have L.A., and they have a loaded roster and a fresh Commissioner's Trophy in the case. If Soto really is willing to take a little less, why wouldn't he join Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Co.?