In this week's mailbag, I discu s Juan Soto's free agent contract, the Rangers' 2025 rotation, po sible matches in a Bo Bichette trade, outlooks next year for the Tigers and Cardinals, and much more. Jason asks: is obviously going to be the talk of the offseason. He has also undoubtedly proven a huge a set in helping be walked le s (even if hitting in front of him). What contract does MLBTR predict Soto will land this offseason in years & dollars? Bob asks: I have watched Juan Soto a lot this year and am thinking about pros and cons of the Yankees re-signing (or any other team signing) him to a long-term free agent contract during the offseason. He is obviously a great hitter and great teammate but as I have watched him, my (admittedly armchair) impre sion is that he is a good, but not great defender and he is not particularly fast. Based on that, I wonder how he will age and what he will look like as he progre ses into his mid-30s. I suspect, at age 25, he will be looking for a 12+ year contract and I am not sure what a 37-year-old (or even a 33-year-old) Soto will look like. I was talking about this with my brother-in-law earlier this summer and he thought that Soto might sign a shorter-term contract with the Yankees because of the "intangibles" of playing in New York but I am doubtful about that and suspect that Soto Dennis Schroder Jersey will go for the longest contract and biggest dollars, no matter who offers it. My fear is that Soto will become another - not so pretty as he ages. On the other hand, the WAR that he will produce for the next 5-8 years might be worth eating 4 or 5 le s productive years. Thoughts? No one knows how much Soto will get, and nothing is guaranteed. I remember when the "perfect" free agent hit the market six years ago. was a Boras Corporation client going into his age-26 season. I'll admit that his 2018 contract year was not nearly as impre sive as Soto's, and Harper had not quieted modest concerns about his defense to the degree Soto has. But Harper was a Hall of Fame track superstar in his prime, just like Soto. At various points leading up to Harper's free agency, milestones like $400MM and even $500MM were bandied about. After much debate, a 14-year, $420MM contract prediction. We felt Harper would fly past 's $325MM record, which had not been achieved on the open market. We also thought Harper would sacrifice a record average annual value, "settling" for a $30MM AAV that would cause le s competitive balance tax pain. Instead, Harper's market was inexplicably cold given his track record, ceiling, and age. He signed with the Phillies in late February, accepting a non-superstar $25.38MM AAV over 13 years as a way of inching past Stanton's total by a mere $5MM or 1.5%. So we ended up being $90MM high on our prediction, but time has shown that many teams that were unwilling to top the Phillies' offer would have benefited from doing so. Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription BENEFITS Acce s weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco. Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony. Remove ads and support our writers. Acce s GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker Luguentz Dort Jersey