Day One of the Offseason, Juan Soto The search continues. Only the Yankees are allowed to discuss salary figures until Monday. But other teams may contact his camp to broadly express interest and promote their organizations now that the World Series is over.

The top free agent has attracted no shortage of interest. Jon Heyman of the New York Post It says 11 teams contacted Soto’s camp Thursday morning. Mike Puma of The Post He cites the Mets, who are perceived as the biggest rivals to the incumbent Yankees, among them.

It’s no surprise that Soto has attracted the attention of more than a third of the league. There isn’t a single front office that wouldn’t want to add him. The number of legally reasonable suitors is much smaller. Soto’s contract demands appear prohibitive for all but a handful of teams, but Heyman writes that two unidentified small-market franchises are among the top eleven. Still, it’s hard to imagine Soto starting with a team that isn’t a traditional giant.

To that end, Heyman touts the possibility of Soto’s team exceeding $700 million without any deferred money. During Shohei Ohtani The net present value of the deal, which reached this level before adjusting for deferrals, was well below $500 million. MLB estimates the Ohtani deal to be around $461 million in luxury tax terms, while the Players Association estimates that figure to be around $438 million. Both numbers still represent all-time records. The Ohtani contract was the only contract in MLB history worth more than $400 million.

There is little doubt that Soto will outperform both versions of the NPV of the Ohtani deal. To do this with a contract worth $700 million today is a huge ask. The guarantee record will have to be broken by more than $240 million. Getting there will require at least $50 million a year over a 14-year period. Ohtani’s deferment-adjusted average annual value of $46.06 million is the only AAV north of $44 million.

No free agents have signed a contract in 14 years. Fernando Tatis Jr. He is the only player to sign a 14-year contract, but his $340 million deal was an extension signed before his age-22 season. Bryce Harper As Soto is now, he’s been a free agent for 13 years as he enters his age-26 season. Harper earned a relative annual salary of $25.38 million, and while Soto will certainly exceed that, breaking the AAV record and signing the longest free agent contract of all time would be an ambitious ask.

Of course, Soto will enter free agency with extremely high expectations. The process seems likely to continue into the offseason, perhaps into the Winter Meetings in December. It seems like every high-payroll franchise is connected to Soto in some way. The general expectation is that there will be a major bidding war, especially between Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and Mets owner Steve Cohen. David Stearns, Mets president of baseball operations. already stated that the organization has the payroll flexibility to consider work across “pretty much the entire player universe.”

Puma noted that while the Mets are wary of signing players that require draft compensation, they were unsurprisingly willing to make an exception in Soto’s case. He will reject a qualifying offer, and thus the Mets will forfeit their second and fifth highest draft picks and $1 million in international bonus pool space to sign him.

For a player of Soto’s caliber, that’s no problem. If the Mets are reluctant to give up draft compensation, that could be a factor in their other free-agent pursuits. They will be heavily involved in free agent pitchers. Corbin Burnes And Maximum Fried QOs will take, but Blake Snell And Jack Flaherty They are not suitable. Candidates for borderline QO include: Michael Wacha, Nick Martinez And Nick Pivetta. As with Soto, they may view Burnes and Fried as outstanding free agents whose farm system they are willing to take a hit on. This will be a subplot to what should be a fascinating offseason in the Big Apple.