MLB rumors: A Juan Soto free-agency sweepstakes update, plus the Orioles hunt for starting pitching

A quick glance at Mike Axisa’s handy offseason guide to key dates shows that we’re just one week away from the Winter Meetings. Most offseasons, that means business is about to pick up. Sometimes it doesn’t, but we’ll hold out hope that it means we’re in for a busy week of rumors before the Winter Meetings provide lots of movement. 

Given that it is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, things are bound to be slow for this particular day, but there could well be some foundation laying for the two weeks ahead. 

We’ll gather the news and rumors for the day right now. Let’s get on with it. 

Two leaders for Soto? 

Through much of the offseason so far, most of us have believed free-agent superstar Juan Soto was going to end up in New York, with either the Yankees or Mets. The leaders in the race at this juncture, however, are the Mets and Red Sox, according to Randy Miller of NJ.com. He says that the Yankees are likely to cap their bid around $550 million while the assumption is the Red Sox and Mets might go to $600 million. 

Also of note here, “I heard [Soto] was very impressed with the Red Sox and the Red Sox are telling Soto that they’re going to bring in a couple of extra players in addition to him.”

The Red Sox finished last season 81-81, which was five games out of a playoff spot. Soto was worth 7.9 WAR last season when he hit .288/.419/.569 (178 OPS+) with 41 homers, 109 RBI and 128 runs. 

The Dodgers, Blue Jays and Yankees are the other three teams that have been heavily connected to Soto in addition to the Mets and Red Sox. 

Orioles in on starting pitching

One big-time starting pitcher is off the market so far this offseason, as southpaw Blake Snell has signed with the Dodgers. We heard in the aftermath that the Orioles were one of the teams in on Snell. The big takeaway there is that the Orioles were discussing a very high-priced free agent pitcher. They haven’t been swimming in that pool in a long time. Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports that bringing back Corbin Burnes “remains a possibility” and the Orioles’ reported interest in Nathan Eovaldi has long been assumed as a possible play. 

Burnes, 30, won the NL Cy Young in 2021 and has gotten Cy Young votes five straight seasons, finishing fifth in the AL last year. He was 15-9 in 2024 with a 2.92 ERA (128 ERA+), 1.10 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 194 ⅓ innings. In his lone playoff start, he allowed one run on five hits in eight innings. 

Eovaldi, 34, is the much cheaper option in free agency. He went 12-8 with a 3.80 ERA (104 ERA+), 1.11 WHIP and 166 strikeouts in 170 ⅔ innings last season for the Rangers. He’s a two-time All-Star with good postseason pedigree, but he isn’t Burnes.