This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

For the Red Sox, signing Soto would show the baseball world they are once again a player in the free-agent market. We’ve been here before. In 2000, the Red Sox signed Manny Ramirez to an eight-year, $160 million contract that shocked the baseball world. Manny proved to be worth the price, eventually winning a pair of World Series titles.

With the Winter Meetings about to take place, the Boston Red Sox need to figure out a way to get the biggest free agent on the market, Juan Soto, to put pen to paper and come to Boston. One way that could sway him is to fulfill one of their selling points to him; sign one or two superstars.