It turns out Ross Atkins and the Blue Jays did have limits on a Juan Soto contract

Once Juan Soto officially became a free agent, it felt as if he was likely to remain in New York, but that was far from a lock. The Los Angeles Dodgers had the best roster, the Boston Red Sox had a great farm system, and the Toronto Blue Jays had a ton of money, plus desperation. Those three organizations felt like legitimate possibilities, and were linked to the 26-year-old until the end.

When the dust settled, Soto did end up staying in New York, signing a 15-year deal worth $765 million with the New York Mets. This was a big blow not only for the New York Yankees, but for the field, as well. In fact, an argument can be made that no team came out worse than the Blue Jays.

After narrowly missing out on Shohei Ohtani and following a disastrous 2024 campaign, signing Soto felt like a move to get this franchise back on track. Sure, the futures of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are very up in the air right now, but signing Soto - a generational 26-year-old - would give the Jays a building block to center their franchise around for the next decade at least. Even if they lost Guerrero and Bichette, they'd still have a cornerstone who hasn't even reached his prime yet.

Missing out on Soto was expected, but if the Jays were at or near the top of the list of bidders, it'd be somewhat acceptable. Sure, outbidding Steve Cohen would be tough, but the Jays have the money to outbid any other team. For a brief period after Soto signed, it appeared as if the Jays were right there money-wise. Unfortunately, Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet noted that this wasn't the case.

"Industry gossip about an offer as high as $760 million circulated Monday in the lobby of the Hilton Anatole, home to baseball’s Winter Meetings. But that speculation seems to have been overblown and while the Blue Jays are believed to have had the authorization of ownership to go further for Soto, it appears that the front office held steady to their valuations as the final-day push by both the Mets and Yankees eliminated the other contenders."

The rumors of the Jays reaching $760 million in their Soto bid appear to be inaccurate. The ownership group approved a higher bid than what they ultimately gave, but Ross Atkins and Co. refused to budge from their set valuations.

"Sources with knowledge of the bidding described them as making the shortlist of finalists with an offer that was under $700 million for the superstar outfielder."

Instead of being around the rumored $760 million, the Jays weren't even at $700 million. Yikes.

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Ross Atkins-imposed limitations might've cost the Blue Jays Juan Soto

Would Soto have actually joined the Jays even if they were the highest bidders? That's unclear. Of the teams in the running, they had easily the worst future to offer Soto. With that being said, though, Atkins didn't give the Jays a chance.

Despite approval from ownership to exceed the $700 million mark, the Jays were under it. That's where Atkins felt comfortable, per Davidi and Nicholson-Smith. That's not the best look.

Did the Mets overpay to get Soto to sign? Absolutely. He's going to earn over $50 million annually through his age 41 season, and while he's an all-world hitter, he leaves a lot to be desired in the field and on the basepaths. Still, how often does a generational 26-year-old become available for nothing other than money? The Jays had a golden opportunity to blow the field away and try to lure Soto to Toronto. Who knows, if they got Soto to commit, others might've followed.

Again, nobody knows whether the Blue Jays would've actually landed Soto even if they had the highest bid, but not even being close to the highest bid is a slap in the face. Ownership was all in, what's the alternative? Corbin Burnes? Anthony Santander? If ownership had stopped Atkins, then oh well. This was not that. Atkins fumbled and cost the Jays a legitimate shot at landing the prize of the offseason.