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Superstar outfielder Juan Soto is the biggest prize in this year’s MLB free agent pool.
Plenty of big-name teams have already been linked to Soto, including his current team, the New York Yankees, as well as the rival New York Mets and their NL East rival Philadelphia Phillies.
But according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post, one team that has been linked to Soto that you wouldn’t expect — the Tampa Bay Rays.
“Seven teams that have called on Juan Soto are known, and while one is a major surprise — the homeless-at-the-moment Tampa Bay Rays — the other six are all major-market teams that have big payrolls and presumably a much better shot than the surprising Rays,” Heyman reports.
Tampa Bay is one of the most well-run teams in all of baseball. But there’s just one problem.
The Tampa Bay Rays Can’t Actually Afford To Sign Juan Soto
The Rays ranked 28th out of 30 teams last season in payroll. Their active payroll at the end of the season was just $36.8 million (which is somehow more than three times as much as the Florida Marlins).
Soto is expected to command a deal worth somewhere in the area of $700 million when it’s all said and done. Almost every projected contract has him making, at minimum, north of $40M a year. So Tampa Bay would need to more than double its active payroll to land Soto.
That ain’t happening. And even if it did, Soto might bristle at the idea of heading to Tampa Bay after multiple dustups between the Rays and Yankees last season.
Heyman reports that the Yankees are most likely to retain Soto.
“The incumbent team is full of advantages after Soto seemed to enjoy his year in The Bronx,” he writes. “But they aren’t a team that writes blank checks, which could open the door to others, including the team eight miles to the south and east.”
The Mets and Dodgers follow in second and third on his list, with the Toronto Blue Jays surprisingly coming next
Either way, it’s hard to see any situation where Soto ends up on the Rays. But you can’t blame them for trying.