The Juan Soto free-agency derby is officially underway, and his decision is set to have major ramifications across the sport. 

Soto’s impending free agency has been highly anticipated all year, becoming a major storyline during both the All-Star Game and the World Series. The moment has now arrived, and the 26-year-old Soto began receiving calls from nearly a dozen teams within hours of the Dodgers completing a five-game World Series win over Soto’s Yankees. 

With a deal almost certain to exceed $600 million, Soto is now in line to reap the second-largest player contract in U.S. pro team sports history, trailing only the 10-year, $700 million agreement between the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani. Depending on the level of deferrals involved, Soto could smash Ohtani’s contract in present-day value. 

Soto, like all other MLB free-agent players, will be eligible to sign with a new team beginning Monday at 5 p.m. ET. 

“I’m going to be available for all 30 teams,” Soto said after the Dodgers clinched their World Series win. “I don’t want to say anybody has any advantage because at the end of the day, we’re going to look at what they have and how much they want me.”

Soto is represented by baseball mega-agent Scott Boras, long known for working with many of baseball’s biggest stars and commanding top-dollar deals. But Soto’s youth—he just turned 26—and his Hall of Fame-caliber trajectory on the field make him a particularly unique free agent, even among other stars to hit the market recently such as Ohtani. 

Limited Suitors

Despite Soto’s comments, and the fact that several teams have conveyed their initial interest, only a select few actually have the financial ability to take on a contract of this size. That group includes the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets, and perhaps a few others such as the Phillies, Cubs, and Blue Jays.

All of these clubs have ownership stakes in their regional sports networks and have been comparatively insulated from the ongoing turbulence in that part of the television industry. None of those teams are connected to the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy, either. 

Ripple Effect?

Soto has frequently spoken well of his one year in pinstripes, a season that brought the Yankees their first World Series berth in 15 years. But some of that consideration could rest on what the team does with ace pitcher Gerrit Cole, who opted out of the final four seasons and $144 million on his existing contract with New York.

The Yankees can eliminate that opt-out by adding on a fifth year and $36 million to Cole’s deal by Monday at 5 p.m., when full free agency opens. Keeping Cole, last year’s American League Cy Young Award winner, would help convey a continued commitment to winning, something Soto has said is important to him. 

The long-festering situation surrounding the 76ers and star center Joel Embiid has turned explosive as the former NBA Most Valuable Player angrily shoved a Philadelphia newspaper columnist Saturday night, bringing new attention to his load-management issues. 

Embiid confronted Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes after the 76ers’ 124-107 home loss to the Grizzlies, and then struck and shoved the writer. Hayes, like several others in the media, has questioned Embiid’s effort as he has not played in any of the 76ers’ five games to date—four of them losses. Hayes additionally invoked the player’s late brother and his young son, both named Arthur, in that criticism, angering Embiid.

“The next time you bring up my dead brother and my son again, you are going to see what I’m going to do to you, and I’m going to have to … live with the consequences,” Embiid said to Hayes. 

Soon after, the NBA said it was initiating an investigation into the incident.

The Issue Amplifies

The scrutiny around Embiid is heightening as questions have continued to fester around his actual physical condition as he rehabilitates his left knee and how it intersects with NBA load-management rules. Already, the NBA has fined the 76ers $100,000 as it seeks to have its top players on the court as much as possible.

But prior to the locker-room incident, Embiid said his prior physical sacrifices were being overlooked.

“I’ve broken my face twice, [and] I came back early with the risk of losing my vision,” he said Friday, when he was a full practice participant. “I have broken fingers. I still came back. When I see people say, ‘He doesn’t want to play,’ I’ve done way too much for this city, putting myself at risk, for people to be saying that.”

The NBA unveiled a set of new policies ahead of last season as a way to combat load management and give players incentive to not sit out games. The policy ties a minimum number of games played to players being eligible for regular-season awards such as MVP and All-NBA, which come with big financial bonuses. 

Negative Impact on New Arena?

The 76ers, meanwhile, are taking on this new dose of negative publicity precisely at a delicate time as they attempt to get a new $1.55 billion arena approved by the Philadelphia City Council. 

The project is set to be privately financed, but the deal to build on city-owned land still requires a series of agreements, and getting those is far from assured as opposition to the downtown arena proposal remains fierce in the local Asian American community. 

The council last week passed a pair of largely procedural resolutions related to the proposed arena, but the core issue will be taken up over the next six weeks.