MLB Rumour Roundup: How high will Juan Soto bidding go?

With Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings just one day away, the free-agent market has slowly begun to churn, with the likes of Willy Adames, Tyler O'Neill and Clay Holmes reportedly coming off the board over the past 48 hours.

But as the baseball world converges in Dallas over the coming days, it's Juan Soto who will continue to dominate headlines until he puts pen to paper on what is shaping up to be a historic contract.

On Thursday, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that Soto is expected to sign before the start of the Winter Meetings, and that the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers are the five teams vying for the 26-year-old's services.

So while that news has had baseball fans on the edge of their seats in anticipation of a deal being announced, the bidding war has raged over the past few days.

According to a report from The New York Post's Jon Heyman on Saturday, both the Yankees and Mets have upped their uppers into the $710 to $730 million range. Those numbers would best the record $700 million Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was guaranteed just a year ago.

Heyman later says that "it is believed the Mets may be slightly higher as of Saturday night, but the respective offers appear to be within shouting distance" and that "it’s possible one of (the Red Sox, Dodgers or Blue Jays) might even be above the New York teams and win" the Soto sweepstakes.

As we wait for the largest shoe of the winter to drop, there are other players and teams gearing up for baseball's premier off-season event. Here are some of the top rumours from around MLB before the Winter Meetings get underway.

Cardinals have 'limited list' for Arenado trade

As the St. Louis Cardinals go about an off-season in which they are expected to shed some payroll and prioritize adding youth to their roster, third baseman Nolan Arenado has emerged as a prime candidate to be traded.

The 33-year-old is coming off his worst season in St. Louis, in which he hit 16 home runs in 152 games and finished with a .719 OPS. The downturn in performance combined with $74 million in remaining salary and a no-trade clause complicate matters in any potential deal.

If the Cardinals are seriously motivated to move on from the 10-time Gold Glover, ESPN's Buster Olney reported Saturday that rival executives expect they would "have to either eat some salary or take on a contract a trade partner wants to move" to make a trade happen. Olney also reported that the team is "working from a very limited list" of potential fits that would be approved by Arenado.

The Athletic's Katie Woo wrote in late November that the 12-year MLB veteran would be willing to play first base "to create roster flexibility for a potential new team." However, based on the shortage of third basemen available this winter and Arenado's established defensive greatness at the hot corner, it seems more likely that a team would be interested in the eight-time All-Star to stick at the position he has played his entire career.

Whether the Cardinals ultimately do decide to pursue an Arenado trade, despite some of the difficulties they would face in doing so, could be decided in the coming days. Woo wrote Friday that the Cardinals "plan to have better clarity regarding the third baseman’s future come the Winter Meetings."

Canadians on the move

O'Neill's signing Friday night marked the beginning of what is shaping up to be a busy off-season for Canadian big leaguers. Jordan Romano, Nick Pivetta and Michael Soroka are just a few other notable free agents who hail from north of the border, and according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor could also be switching teams this winter.

Rosenthal wrote Thursday that “it should surprise no one that Cleveland is open to trade offers” for the eldest Naylor brother as he enters his final year of team control before free agency.

Projected to make $12 million in arbitration by MLB Trade Rumors, the 27-year-old is coming off a season in which he hit 31 homers and drove in 108 runs, primarily serving as the Guardians' cleanup hitter.

Described as a "galvanizing force in the clubhouse and dugout" by Rosenthal, Naylor has emerged as a key piece of Cleveland's recent success. However, with Kyle Mazardo — a cheaper and younger left-handed hitting first baseman — breaking into the majors last season, the Guardians may look to find a big-league contributor at a different position in a trade for the Mississauga, Ont. native.

Another Canadian that has been a topic among MLB teams recently is Calgary's Soroka. The 27-year-old pitched to a 4.74 ERA with the Chicago White Sox last season. However, the six-foot-five right-hander notably turned his season around once he was moved to the bullpen. In 36.0 innings as a reliever, Soroka carried a 2.75 ERA and .189 batting average against while striking out 39 per cent of the hitters he faced.

Despite his success out of the bullpen, teams "prefer (Soroka) as a back-end starter with front-line potential," according to a report from The Athletic.

Soroka has, of course, been successful as a starter in the past, finishing the runner-up for the NL Rookie of the Year and earning an All-Star Game nod with the Atlanta Braves in 2019. Since that breakout, though, injuries limited him to just 10 MLB outings between 2020 and 2023.

Red Sox 'open' to trading Casas

Boston appears primed to make multiple splashy additions this off-season — even if Soto chooses to go elsewhere — and is reportedly willing to move a young, middle-of-the-order bat to add to its rotation.

The Boston Globe's Alex Speier wrote Saturday that the Red Sox are "determined" to add a front-line starter and are "open to using (Triston) Casas as a trade chip" to do so.

In his report, Speier said that one American League executive told him that Boston offered Casas as a headliner in a potential trade for a starting pitcher on the executive's team while withholding outfielder Wilyer Abreu and the club's group of elite prospects from the proposal.

The Red Sox have been linked to free-agent starters Corbin Burnes and Max Fried and have been one of the main suitors connected to the Chicago White Sox and left-handed ace Garrett Crochet.

Torn cartilage in Casas's ribcage limited the six-foot-five first baseman to just 63 games in 2024, but he is just one year removed from a 24-homer campaign that saw him finish third in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

Lauded as a "bat who can hit 40 home runs” by Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow in early November, Casas is just one of a number of capable left-handed hitters currently residing in Boston. With four more years of team control, Casas could be coveted by a team looking for short- and long-term contributors.

Quick hits

• Rosenthal and Will Sammon reported Saturday that the Baltimore Orioles are "reluctant" to try and sign starting pitchers attached to a qualifying offer — stemming from the team's preference to hold onto its draft positioning.

• Once 2020 AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber agreed to return to the Cleveland Guardians on Friday, Heyman reported that the right-hander turned down larger offers than the one-year, $14 million guaranteed contract he signed to stay put.