Miami Marlins rival notes: Bregman, Soto

I don't expect the Miami Marlins to be after any of the top free agents this off-season. It's been a much better time for The Fish's rivals, who keep collecting and competing for awards. It turns out that unsurprisingly both the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets are after the top free agents as well. Of course two of the top ones are Juan Soto and Alex Bregman.

Will the Miami Marlins rivals sign the top free agents?

Let's start with the New York Mets. The team is heavily expected to go all out for Juan Soto of course. What's interesting here, is that Mets owner Steve Cohen is on good terms with Soto's agent Scott Boras. The two sides have actually gotten together on some big moves in the last few years. With the Mets reportedly planning to go all out to sign him, it's certainly looking like they will make the best move that they can.

It's interesting to point out, that Soto's current team the New York Yankees potentially have a limit as to how much they will actually be willing to spend on him. If the Mets don't have such a limit, then they might in fact be on the way to becoming the favorites as far as signing him.

I still expect one of the New York teams to sign him, but it does seem as if the Mets are refusing to take a backseat to their more popular and successful neighbors. This brings us to another major free agent: 3B Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros.

The Philadelphia Phillies already have a third baseman in Alec Bohm, but could be willing to shake up the roster and move him. Bohm batted .280/.332/.448, with 15 home runs and 97 RBI in 143 games and 554 AB. He's not known as a good defender, so it's possible that they will look for an upgrade, with their defense not known to be particularly good in general.

I wouldn't be surprised if Philly signed Alex Bregman, but I still expect the New York Yankees to be the ones to sign (or in their case re-sign) Juan Soto.