Juan Soto free agency update: Slugger's asking price surges past $600 million as former Yankee begins eliminating suitors

The bidding war for Juan Soto is well underway. Five teams have made preliminary offers to the slugger, and now some clubs have upped their proposed deals as others fell out of the running. The deals have reportedly gone past $600 million.

Soto's agent, Scott Boras, said that teams are being removed from Soto's list as the pricing continues to rise. Some won't be able to afford him the way things are going.

“When you’re going through these things, he’s just got a lot of information to meld through," Boras said on Tuesday, via The Athletic. "We’ve had meetings with a number of franchises. He’s begun the process of eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll see, but I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.”

The New York Yankees and New York Mets seem to be the leading teams. The Boston Red Sox are reportedly still in the hunt, while it is believed that the LA Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays have fallen out of the race.

It was also reported that he's expected to make his decision sooner rather than later, so teams will likely be sending final counteroffers to make sure Soto gets the best deal in the coming days.

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Scott Boras opens up on Juan Soto and the Yankees

Scott Boras has seen teams buying star players in a perceived attempt to "buy" championships. It's what the LA Dodgers are accused of with signing another client of Boras, Blake Snell.

Juan Soto is well sought after (Imagn)

Snell discussed this, via The Athletic.

“I would say that, as George Steinbrenner said, 'whatever you do to compete, the fact that I can compete in a different way than others, so be it,'" Snell said. "I don’t think that has anything to do with the number of trophies that hang over your stadium, I don’t think fans remember that.”

Any team that secures Soto's services for presumably the next decade will be more or less attempting to "buy" a championship. Soto has a ring and has played in another World Series before he turned 26.

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