Juan Soto rejects Yankees’ qualifying offer: report

Juan Soto has rejected the Yankees’ one-year qualifying offer, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. 

This is the least surprising news of the offseason, as Soto is easily the most prized free agent available and expectations are that he’ll be landing a record-setting long-term deal wherever he ends up signing.

The 26-year-old superstar certainly has put himself in a tremendous spot following his monster contract year in which he posted a career-high 41 homers, 109 RBI, and a .989 OPS while leading the Yanks to the World Series.

Soto’s free agency sweepstakes is already well underway as he and agent Scott Boras have held meetings with the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, over the past couple of days, and has a meeting set up with the Dodgers. The Giants, Phillies, and Rays could also potentially end up having meetings with Soto, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

It’s unknown how long this process will drag out, but SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino recently reported that we could see a decision around the Winter Meetings, which kick off on Dec. 9 in Dallas.