Juan Soto is “eliminating teams” in the free agent sweepstakes, likely getting a $600 million contract

Free agent outfielder Juan Soto has begun narrowing down his list of possible landing spots, with the price tag for a new contract likely topping the $600 million mark.

Days before the start of the MLB winter meetings in Dallas, agent Scott Boras said he didn’t believe a Soto decision was “imminent” — although Boras did not identify teams that would either participate or not participate in Soto’s services.

The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets were the ones who publicly expressed the most interest.

At a news conference Tuesday announcing the signing of another of his high-profile clients, Blake Snell of the Dodgers, Boras was asked about Soto’s schedule.

“He just has a lot of information to process,” Boras replied. “We had meetings with a number of franchises. He started eliminating teams and getting things done. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll do it.” Look, but I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.

The 26-year-old Soto helped lead the Yankees to the World Series last season, setting career highs in home runs (41) and runs scored (128) and posting an elite .989 OPS, trailing only the MVP league winners Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

Soto’s next contract is expected to exceed the current value Ohtani signed last offseason. The Japanese star signed a heavily deferred, 10-year, $700 million contract, valued at $460 million for luxury tax purposes. With Boras as his agent, Soto doesn’t think he’ll take that route.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Juan Soto news: Boras says star ‘eliminating teams’ as MLB rumors spread