Well, the days are getting shorter and the air’s getting colder, which can only mean one thing: it’s the time of year when Red Sox fans get themselves hyped up about the idea of a top free agent signing in Boston, hoping they won’t be let down again.
This year, that’s come in the form of reports from the New York Post’s Jon Heyman and ESPN’s Jeff Passan that Boston is one of the teams in the running for 26-year-old free-agent slugger Juan Soto. Passan reported Tuesday that Soto was on the top of the Red Sox’s “want list” and that they would be meeting with the free agent in California this week.
Every year it seems that Sox Nation is Charlie Brown and Lucy’s football is MLB insiders reporting that the Sox are “involved,” “interested,” or taking meetings with one of the hot stove season’s top prizes.
WEEI’s Rich Keefe strongly cautions against feeling optimistic.
“There’s zero chance they’re going to sign Juan Soto,” Keefe said Tuesday on Jones and Keefe.
Adam Jones agreed, saying that while he’s “more inclined” to believe Passan, he still believes that the Sox aren’t willing to spend the amount of money needed to get Soto.
“I still can’t let my heart go there,” Jones said.
Keefe theorized that the Red Sox are making their meetings public so they can claim they were ‘in’ on Soto later on.
“Do you think they're going to meet with him to sort of say, ‘Well, we were interested,’ because they've done that with everybody else. You don't have to spend a dime to meet with the guy,” Keefe said.
Should the fact that the Sox are just taking meetings with top free agents this year inspire hope that they’ll be able to land somebody?
“The fact that they’re even taking a meeting, to me, is promising because they’re at least worried about the optics,” Jones said.
Keefe agreed that the executives over on Jersey Street are starting to pay more attention to how the baseball world views them.
“I think maybe they do care a little bit about how they’re getting ripped. It’s why they signed [Rafael] Devers. If they weren't so publicly ripped about getting rid of Mookie Betts, not re-signing Xander Bogaerts, they probably would have been like, ‘Screw it. Let's just get more young guys,’” Keefe said.
But, the odds that those fears of being “ripped” turn into paying what could be a contract north of $600 million for Soto are likely still low.
“I don't think Red Sox fans are that dumb. I think Red Sox fans know it’s not happening,” Keefe said. “Nobody really believes they're gonna sign Juan Soto. Do they? If you think they’re going to sign Juan Soto, I'm all ears as to why.”
Jones believes that the meetings and the reported interest still mean something.
“They're worried about losing the fan base on some level, [and] they're at least going to go through the motions and take the meeting. That might not be much these days, but there isn't much to glom onto with the Red Sox. That's something,” Jones said.
Beyond the possibility of Soto, reports are linking the Red Sox to a variety of other free agents including starting pitchers Max Fried and Roki Sasaki.
While free agents have been able to start negotiations with new teams since Nov. 4, it may take a while for the marquee free agent signings to begin. Last year’s big prize, Shohei Ohtani, signed his record-breaking $700 million deal with the Dodgers on Dec. 9.