The Toronto Blue Jays appeared to never have gotten close to the New York Mets in the Juan Soto signing.
The Blue Jays were considered one of the finalists for the superstar outfielder who signed a 15-year $765 million deal with the Mets. However, according to Blue Jays insiders Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, the Blue Jays’ offer didn’t even reach $700 million.
“How far were the Toronto Blue Jays willing to go to land Juan Soto?,” Nicholson-Smith and Davidi wrote. “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, who agreed to a record $765-million, 15-year deal with the New York Mets on Sunday night.
“As the pursuit of Soto intensified, the Blue Jays were often perceived to be among the most aggressive suitors for the 26-year-old free agent. 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,” the two insiders added.
With the Blue Jays’ offer not even reaching $700 million it’s clear that Toronto was never in the running for Soto. However, the two insiders reveal ownership allowed the front office to go past $700 million, but they decided not to.
“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,” they added.
Toronto has now fallen short of signing Shohei Ohtani and Soto in back-to-back offseasons.
Blue Jays GM Comments on Soto Negotiations
Toronto was in the running to sign Soto, but the Blue Jays fell short.
Following Soto signing with the Mets, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins commented on what the next steps for Toronto are.
“We’re not shifting our plan,” Atkins said. “We’ve had a plan from the start of the off-season and Juan Soto could have been a part of it. And now we’ll continue to look to improve our team. We’ve been working tirelessly on every front to do so. From the start of the off-season, we talked about adding to our pitching. Adding to our offense, and rebuilding our bullpen. That remains our goal.”
Toronto is coming off a year where they missed the playoffs.
Toronto Makes Major Trade
After falling short of signing Soto, the Blue Jays made their first major move of the offseason on December 10.
Toronto acquired Cleveland Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez and reliever Nick Sandlin for Spencer Howitz and minor-league outfielder Nick Mitchell.
Gimenez is about to enter the third year of his seven-year $106.5 million deal. The second baseman is one of the best defensive second basemans in MLB. He’s won three straight Gold Gloves.
“Everything about him was attractive,” Atkins said. “The work that we did on his bat and the offensive upside that can be there, the teammate, you know I talk about being a teammate all the time — we just heard incredible things about the person. As a baserunner, adding that level of speed and that level of athleticism. Plus him being here for a long time, all of that was very attractive to us.”
Gimenez was an All-Star in 2022 and finished sixth in MVP voting that season.
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