Juan Soto Is Reportedly Seeking 15-Year Deal in Free Agency

Soto is reportedly attempting to land a deal that will take him into his 40s.

Soto is poised to become one of the highest-paid players in MLB / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Juan Soto sweepstakes are crawling along, with the star outfielder having fielded initial offers from five teams recently. There is no indication that Soto is even close to making a decision on where he'll play out his next contract, and it's been reported that multiple rounds of bids are expected.

It also was revealed recently that Soto prefers a 15-year deal, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

"While a very short deal at super high annual salary could make some sense since he would still become a free agent again in his 20s, word is out that that doesn’t interest him, especially since he’s expected to receive opt-outs in any long deal," Heyman wrote.

Scaling the deal, the highest-paid player in terms of AAV is his 2024 Yankees teammate Aaron Judge. Judge earns $40 million per year. At that rate, Soto's contract would be worth $600 million. Presuming Soto expects to become the highest-paid non-pitcher, he could eye a $650-700 million deal at 15 years.

Last offseason, Shohei Ohtani signed a $700 million contract for 10 years with the Dodgers, however the cash payouts are largely deferred. Additionally, Ohtani is a two-way player that bats and pitches at a high level. Soto is one of the best in MLB at the plate, but most experts expect him to field a smaller contract in AAV than Ohtani since he doesn't bring the same two-way impact.

With so many big market teams interested, if a 15-year deal is a deal-breaker for Soto, there's reason to think there is a strong chance he'll get it. Already, competition among interested teams has led to initial offers being improved and tweaked in Soto's favor.

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