Juan Soto reportedly ‘impressed’ by Red Sox in first meeting

Red Sox meet with Juan Soto: Boston had its first opportunity to make its pitch to the top MLB free agent on the market on Thursday.

The Red Sox held a “productive” meeting with Juan Soto that the star outfielder was “impressed” by, MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported Friday. A formal contract offer wasn’t made to Soto, and while chairman Tom Werner, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, and manager Alex Cora were among the group in attendance for the meeting, owner John Henry was not, according to McAdam.

If the Red Sox end up making Soto a formal offer at some point, it’ll likely have to be one of the largest contract offers in MLB history. Most prognistactors believe Soto will receive a deal worth at least $600 million and could reach the record-setting deal that Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers last offseason (10 years, $700 million). The Athletic‘s Tim Britton projected that Soto will sign a 13-year, $611 million deal at the onset of free agency.

Even though the price for Soto might be steep, there’s a good reason why he’ll likely command one of the largest contracts in the history of North American sports. The recently turned 26-year-old is already a four-time All-Star and was named to the All-MLB first team for the third time in his career on Thursday. Some of his stats over the first seven years of his career also mirror the likes of Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, and other Hall of Famers.

Soto just had a monster season in his first year with the Yankees. He slashed .288/.419/.569 with 41 homers and 109 RBIs, finishing in the top-five in the American League in each of those stats except for batting average.

As the Red Sox are looking to pry Soto away from their top rival, they apparently used their own history in their opening pitch to the All-Star. They presented Soto with a video of their history with star players from the Dominican Republic, according to McAdam. Soto, a Dominican native, said in 2021 that the Red Sox were his favorite team growing up due to David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Pedro Martinez.

If the Red Sox are able to land Soto, they’ll have a bit of a good problem on their hands. Boston is already preparing to deal with surplus of outfield talent as most analysts believe top prospect Roman Anthony will to make his MLB debut sometime in 2025. So, the Red Sox would likely have to move off one of Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, or Ceddanne Rafaela in order to make room for Soto. Abreu’s name has already been floated in trade rumors.

It’s unclear how long Soto’s free-agent process will last. He has reportedly met or will meet with the Blue Jays, Mets, Dodgers, and Yankees in Southern California through early next week.

Trivia: Juan Soto hit 41 homers for the Yankees last season. When was the last time the Red Sox had a player hit that many home runs in a season?

(Hint: It came during a World Series-winning season).

Schedule and results

The Bruins suffered another decisive defeat on Thursday, losing 7-2 to the Stars in Dallas. All seven goals were allowed by Jeremy Swayman, setting a career-high for most goals allowed in a game. Boston fell to 8-8-2 on the season with the loss. The Bruins return home on Saturday to host the Blues, who they defeated on Tuesday.

The Celtics were off Thursday and will also have Friday night off hosting the Raptors on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.

Hitting the gridiron, Boston College travels to Texas to face No. 14 SMU on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The 5-4 Eagles will start Grayson James at quarterback. Bill O’Brien’s decision to name James the starting quarterback resulted in Thomas Castellanos to announce his decision to transfer on Thursday.

Finally, the Patriots are back at Gillette Stadium on Sunday when they host the Rams. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m.

Read more from Boston.com:

Daily highlight

Oilers star Connor McDavid made history with his goal in the first period of their win over the Predators on Thursday, scoring his 1,000th career point. With the goal, McDavid became the fourth-fastest and fourth-youngest player in NHL history to score 1,000 career points.

McDavid added career point 1,001 on a pretty assist for the game-winning goal in overtime.

On this day

Nine years ago, the Patriots finally found themselves in the win column after a dramatic battle with the Giants. New England, who entered the game 8-0, needed some fourth-quarter heroics in order to get the win, though. After Tom Brady threw an interception at the goal line in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Giants marched down the field and appeared to have scored a touchdown that could’ve given them a 31-24 lead at the time. However, Odell Beckham Jr.’s touchdown grab was overturned and the Giants were forced to settle for a field goal to put them up, 26-24, with 1:47 remaining.

That was enough time for Brady to get the Patriots down the field to set Stephen Gostkowski up for the game-winning field goal. Brady helped the Patriots convert on a fourth-and-10 opportunity before Gostkowski squeaked in a 54-yard field goal with a second left to give New England the victory.

Trivia answer: J.D. Martinez in 2018 (43)