Red Sox made $700 million offer to Juan Soto before he chose Mets (Report)

DALLAS – Juan Soto is in agreement with the New York Mets on a landmark 15-year, $765 million contract.

It’s the largest contract in the history of sports. It includes a $75 million signing bonus and one opt-out after the 2029 season, reported MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

The Red Sox made an offer in the range of $700 million over more than a dozen years, a source told the Herald. In the end, it wasn’t enough because Soto wanted to play in New York. Boston’s talented young core, blooming farm system, and Soto’s close relationships with fellow Dominican baseball stars David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez weren’t going to change that.

It’s the biggest swing in Red Sox history, but is it a miss? Heading into Soto’s free agency, few expected Boston to be a serious horse in this race at all, and they were in it until the end. Boston offered Soto more than triple their largest free agent signing in franchise history (David Price, seven-year, $217 million). They offered him more than double their final offer to Mookie Betts, and more than double what it took to keep Rafael Devers from going to free agency.

Even though the Red Sox have largely avoided exorbitant free-agent commitments in recent years, several teams still aren’t close to catching up to contracts Boston gave out over a decade ago. They’re one of 12 clubs that have given a free-agent a contract of at least $200 million (they’ve given out two); there are nine clubs that still haven’t inked a free agent for as much as $100 million.

The Red Sox were already pivoting to free-agent outfielder Teoscar Hernandez in the hours leading up to Soto’s decision, a source told the Herald. They have competition from fellow Soto also-rans, the Dodgers, Yankees, and Blue Jays.