$700 million? Juan Soto is 'the Mona Lisa' as MLB's top free agent, Scott Boras says

SAN ANTONIO — It was nearly a quarter-century ago, just a five-hour drive away, when Alex Rodriguez and agent Scott Boras shocked the baseball world by signing the richest contract in the sport’s history with the Texas Rangers.

Now, here we are deep in the heart of Texas at Major League Baseball's GM meetings in San Antonio, where Boras and Juan Soto are trying to re-create another historic deal, hopefully this time with a price tag of about $700 million – dwarfing Rodriguez’s 10-year $252 million contract at the 2000 winter meetings in Dallas.

The comparisons are eerily similar, with Soto just turning 26 years old two weeks ago and considered the best pure hitter in the game, while Rodriguez was 25 when he signed with the Rangers.

Soto has a career .285 batting average with 201 homers, 592 RBI and a .989 OPS. Rodriguez had a career .309 batting average with 189 homers, 598 RBI and a .934 OPS when he hit free agency.

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Rodriguez was considered perhaps the finest young free agent to ever hit the market. Boras believes Soto is one of the greatest players in the history of the game at that age, comparing his career to Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr., as well as Rodriguez.

The vital difference, Boras says, is Soto’s track record of excelling on the biggest stage.

Rodriguez had played only with the Seattle Mariners, and regularly in only two postseasons, never advancing to the World Series.

Soto, who has played with three different teams, has already been to two World Series: winning in 2019 with the Washington Nationals and losing this past year with the New York Yankees. He also helped lead the San Diego Padres to the 2022 NLCS. He has 11 homers, 30 RBI and a .927 OPS in his postseason career, compared to Rodriguez’s three homers and eight RBI in the postseason before he hit free agency.

“The one thing that I’m really happy about is that Juan has played in World Series," Boras said, “he’s known championship moments. I mean, other than the Dodgers and Astros’ players, Juan has got the most bats in the postseason. So, he’s been seen and understood much more than A-Rod was when he was a young player. Obviously playing in New York City and in the platform of New York, his character, working with the biggest media markets, everything about Juan Soto is pretty well known.

“So for a free agent at this age, being around great players, being in big markets, being in championship situations, all of those things. It’s like every box is checked, where with A-Rod, he didn’t quite have the resume of championship play, big-city play, all of those things that Juan has."

Soto informed Boras that he wants to meet face-to-face with the ownership group of each team that covets him, even Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, whose stiffest competition could come from across town with the New York Mets and owner Steve Cohen.

“They want to win,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. “They are in a large market with us, had a taste of success this year and they want to move the needle even more forward. The best way to do that is import quality players to what you already have... Being the last team standing is what it’s all about, trying to find great players and add it to your mix.”

Cohen may have the deepest pockets, worth around $20 billion – making him the richest owner in baseball, according to Forbes – but it’s not as if Cashman believes it’s only a two-team race.

“Big-market owners with deep pockets aren’t the only ones signing players to big deals," Cashman said. “You have seen the San Diego Padres sitting out on the West Coast, they have imported a lot of big-time players and big-time contracts and outcompeted teams of interest for, so it comes in various forms, in various cities at various times.

“The market this time of year is coming this strong from all different aspects of the baseball universe, so we have to do our best to compete with whomever on a year-in and year-out basis.”

While Soto certainly enjoyed his time in New York, according to Boras, the biggest selling point will be a team’s plans on competing on an annual basis and their strategy of building around him.

“Juan loves winning," Boras said. “Juan Soto wants ownership that he knows is going to support an opportunity to win annually. It’s remarkable to think of a player from a very modest beginning from the Dominican Republic that for all of his monetary offerings he has received, record offers, that his focus was always, 'I want to know who my owner is. I want to know that we’re going to be able to win ... If I’m going to commit my career to it, I want the owner to commit his resources to it.'

"And that’s really why Juan Soto became a free agent."

While Soto certainly isn’t going to provide the same financial benefits as Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles, whose 10-year, $700 million deferred contract is paying for itself with Japanese corporate sponsorships and ticket sales, Boras insists that Soto’s presence will drastically increase a franchise’s value.

“I think the fact that when you have something that no one else has in the player community and in the talent arena," Boras said, “you have the jewel. You have the Mona Lisa of the museum. You have the attraction.

“You also have somebody that allows for owners to win repeatedly, and when owners win repeatedly, their revenues skyrocket. They develop the impact of postseason play, attendance, rights in the streaming world, international branding having one of the greats, and he has literally 15 years more of his prime to offer."

Boras, who spoke for 48 minutes, also touched on a variety of topics involving several other of his marquee free agents:

Will Astros sign Alex Bregman?

Bregman has spent his entire career with the Houston Astros, has received interest from several teams asking whether he’d be willing to move to second base, which he’s amenable to doing, Boras said. Bregman recently had surgery to remove chips in his right elbow, Boras said, but that he’ll be fine in a few weeks.

While GM Dana Brown is cautiously optimistic about bringing Bregman back – signing him to the richest contract in franchise history – Boras said the Astros have little choice but to re-sign him.

“They clearly understand the rarity of being in four World Series and being in the postseason eight years in a row,’’ Boras said, “and him being a centerpiece of that. They’ve certainly measure me throughout the process that they’ve been actively engaged. As to meeting markets and the demand of this kind of player, you just don’t have many players on the dirt that does what he does. Also that Bregman can play second base, third base, his leadership, it’s a market certainly that the Astors are very aware is very healthy to him."

Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes are hot commodities

While Corbin Burnes is the top free-agent pitcher on the market, Boras says interest for Blake Snell, who pitched last season for the San Francisco Giants, has swelled after his brilliant second half. Snell, who badly struggled the first half after signing in late March, went 5-0 with a 1.45 ERA after the All-Star break, permitting just 31 hits while striking out 103 batters in 68.1 innings.

“There’s no doubt the 'Snelling salts' created a lot of whiffs," Boras quipped. “And the market has definitely awakened."

Burnes’ stock has also risen, Boras said, after going 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA, pitching for the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East last season after spending his first six years with the Milwaukee Brewers.

“He continues to be a 'Corbin copy' of his previous seasons," Boras said. “He's the foundation of having a No. 1."

Said Boras: “Last year I think was more focused on the relief market. This year, it’s very clear that its; very focused on the starting market. I think the starters will be going quite quickly."

Should LDS be seven games?

Boras believes MLB's Division Series should be a best-of-seven like the LCS and World Series – instead of a best-of-five.

“The way this playoff structure is rigored for the first five games," Boras says, “we have to go stop burning up our beautiful young arms by pitching them in a manner that we would never do during a season.

"We have a playoff system that’s really injurious to what teams do with their players in their development and how they manage them during the season, pitching them four, five, six days in a row. This is their future. They bring them up with no service, and they’re throwing 98[-mph], but they’re utilized in the bullpen. ... We need to get back to seven [games] so that starters become the uniformity, that we’re not using up our young bullpen arms.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB rumors: Juan Soto 'Mona Lisa' free agency; Boras on Burnes, Snell