Blue Jays Treating Juan Soto Free Agency Just Like Shohei Ohtani in '23

The Blue Jays ownership will make special exceptions on salary for players like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.

Juan Soto is the prize of MLB free agency. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays are one of a handful of big market teams vying for the services of 26-year-old slugger Juan Soto in free agency.

Soto is expected to command one of the biggest contracts in MLB history, with a price tag that could exceed $600 million. That number understandably scared a lot of teams off his market, with the exception of the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and New York Yankees, who are the four serious suitors at this time.

So just how far will the Blue Jays go in the pursuit of Soto? They'll go as far as they did with Shohei Ohtani last winter, when the franchise made a serious pursuit for the generational star. According to a report from Sports Net in Canada, Toronto's ownership group approved an offer in the neighborhood of $700 million for Ohtani last winter, but only for Ohtani. That money could not be distributed elsewhere to improve the rest of the roster. In other words, it was an exception, not the norm.

The same could be said for Soto this winter. The Blue Jays could be willing to meet Soto's price tag, but only because of the type of player that he is.

Soto just turned 26, and was a key cog for the Yankees in their trip to the World Series last month.

Soto hit .288 with 41 home runs and 109 RBI last season. The 41 home runs were a career-high.

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