By accounts, the Red Sox stayed aggressive in the Juan Soto sweepstakes until they were told the race was over.
After over a month of speculation, Soto on Sunday night reportedly agreed to a historic deal with the New York Mets. The reported union wasn’t very surprising, but according to WEEI’s Rob Bradford, Red Sox executives arrived to the MLB winter meetings in Dallas under the impression that Boston still had a chance to sign the superstar outfielder.
The Red Sox’s reported stance was warranted, as the club reportedly pushed its offer to a level the franchise never has seen. And Boston might have gone even higher had it received a stronger sense of direction from Soto’s team.
“Perhaps the most significant clue that (Scott) Boras and Soto wouldn’t be scrambling for their desired record-setting end-game came when the Red Sox simply asked for the level it was going to take to put forth a competitive bid,” Bradford wrote in a column published Monday.”They were instead told the player and his representatives would be sticking to the three-tier bidding process, immediately signaling there would be no desperation on behalf of Soto.”
While Boston seemingly put up a good fight for Soto, Craig Breslow and company shouldn’t feel any sense of a moral victory. The Red Sox still have a lot of work to be done, and they’ll need to keep their foot on the gas if they want to turn things around in 2025.
