The Rays have the prospects, but will they give Soto the kind of contract he wants? Since it's likely Soto will have the biggest contract or close to biggest contract in MLB. There are only a few teams that could trade for Soto and re-sign him, so that brings the asking price for him down somewhat, but not much.
You can eliminate maybe a dozen teams that will have no interest in Soto simply on the basis that they are not even trying to win. Then you have teams that are actually trying to win even with very small payrolls. Think Cleveland or St Louis. So would one of these teams be williong to completely gut their farm system plus maybe a couple of regulars for an affordable Soto and a chance to catch lightning in a bottle for the 2022-2024 seasons before watching him leave for big $$ elsewhere? Will they learn from the Angels who have had one VERY expensive player, arguably the best non-pitcher in baseball but have not made the playoffs since 2014?
That leaves maybe 4 teams that mightrealistically think about signing Soto as a FA - Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees and maybe Houston. And take the Yankees off the list IF they re-sign Judge.
The Mets can also think about signing Soto if he becomes a free agent. Even more so because if I'm not mistaken the Mets won't have Scherzer's 42 million dollar contract on their payroll when Soto is due to be a free agent.
Oh, my bad. Forgot the free spending Mets. Now that you mention them, what with Cohen's apaprent willingness to blow by the various luxury tax levels, they are arguably the most likely team to go after Soto now with the intention of signing him long term a la teh Dopdgers and Mookie Betts, assuming they have the prospects to do so, and that the Nats would trade him within the division.
