The Boston Red Sox were one of the more surprising teams in the race for Juan Soto's services — not because they're a small-market team, but because they've acted like one for the past six offseasons.
The Red Sox went from competing for every major free agent to whiffing on middle-of-the-road candidates with uncompetitive offers. Soto was expected to be one of the most expensive free agents of all time in the months leading up to his signing with the Mets, and those prophecies ended up being correct.
Soto signed for $765 million over 15 years, the richest contract in sports history. In the end, no one was going to compete with Mets owner Steve Cohen, the wealthiest in MLB. With incentives, Soto could make over $800 million over the next 15 seasons in Queens.
The Red Sox's offer didn't get close to that — or even to the next-highest bidder, the Yankees. David Ortiz, who was active in the recruitment process for Soto and is a family friend of the outfielder, attested Boston's offer to Soto only reached $600 million (reported by Héctor Gómez of Z101 Digital).
David Ortiz says Red Sox's best offer to Juan Soto was $600 million, $100 million lower than prior reports
Juan Soto's $765M is INSANE 🤯
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 9, 2024
LARGEST CONTRACT IN SPORTS HISTORY 💰 pic.twitter.com/anpSe7bU3L
Ortiz's statement conflicts with other reports of the Sox's offer to Soto. According to Sean McAdam of MassLive, the Sox's best offer to the slugger was $700 million over 15 years. Even that is tens of millions lower than the next-best offer, and Boston never would've secured Soto's services with such an offer. But $600 million would be an embarrassingly low offer for any serious team in the race.
$600 million is no small change and is more than the Red Sox have spent on any single player in franchise history. Rafael Devers' $313.5 million extension is the largest contract the Red Sox have ever awarded, and a $600 million offer to Soto would nearly double it. $700 million would blow it out of the water.
Whether Boston offered Soto $600 million or $700 million, it never really competed to sign him, like many of its other free agent targets in recent history. The front office knew Soto would never accept such offers to play with a struggling team with no star power while other, more competitive clubs were among the options.
Ownership was probably banking on that.