New York Post | Jon Heyman: Heyman reports that both the Yankees and Mets have increased their respective offers for Juan Soto to between $710 million and $730 million. There’s no word yet on whether the Red Sox, Blue Jays or Dodgers remain in the running.

It’s important to note that such a number could include deferred funds, but it’s obviously still a gigantic number that would break the record set by Shohei Ohtani last winter for the largest contract in American sports history. It really looks like both New York teams are in the thick of things until the end and no one knows exactly what their intentions are. There’s a feeling in the game that Soto’s decision will come in the next day or two, but that’s perhaps all that can be said with confidence at this point.

ESPN | Jeff Passan: Per Passan, Japanese star Roki Sasaki is expected to be used during the Winter Meetings.* This opens a 45-day window for the 23-year-old right-hander to negotiate with major league teams. Sasaki will likely sign after January 15th, when the international bonus pools reset, allowing him to sign for a little more money, although the largest bonus pool in the game will still only be around $7.5 million. The Yankees will certainly do their due diligence on Sasaki, but many in the game seem to view the 23-year-old as a possibility to join the defending champion Dodgers. Passan himself says it’s not a fait accompli and has clubs like the Padres and Giants also in the hunt; we’ll see.

*Speaking of winter meetings, check out Andrew’s post for SB Nation yesterday if you are looking for an introduction to the most important events and expected news.

MLB trade rumors | Nick Deeds: Willy Adames was brought in as a plausible Plan B if the Yankees missed Juan Soto. Well, he’s off the table, and the Giants snag a top free agent by signing Adames to a seven-year, $182 million contract. The cream of the free agent infield group is now just Alex Bregman, and if the Yankees fail to bring Soto back, they will have one less option in terms of backup bats.

Also of note, outfielder Tyler O’Neill and old Yankees nemesis Gary Sánchez signed with Baltimore to a three-year, $49.5 million contract and a one-year, $8.5 million contract, respectively. O’Neill turned a stellar one-season performance in Boston into a nice payday while the Orioles can bolster their outfield. In the meantime, El Gary gets to return to the AL East and play his home games in a stadium where he has hit 11 home runs in 33 career games (and Walltimore won’t stand in his way). At this point, he’s primarily a DH, but could occasionally spell Adleyrutschman behind the plate.

The Athlete | Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma ($): Opposing clubs have lost coaches to the Yankees several times in recent years, and it happened again when the Cubs signed a former Yankees coach. The Cubs have hired Jose Javier as their new big league first base coach. Javier served as defensive line coach with a focus on fielding and baserunning at Triple-A last season.