Free-agent slugger Juan Soto could be in line to make as much as $50 million a season. Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated Press

The internet was abuzz over the weekend regarding Juan Soto and his next destination. There were unsubstantiated reports that the Red Sox were close to signing Soto to the most lucrative deal in MLB history.

The numbers being thrown around were staggering – that Soto will command at least $50 million a season. The four-time All-Star who just turned 26 and finished third in American League MVP voting this season could be in line to make as much as $600 million over 10 to 12 years.

For the Red Sox, signing Soto would show the baseball world they are 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 worth the price, eventually winning a pair of World Series titles.

Dan Duquette, Boston’s general manager at the time, understood the importance of not losing Ramirez to the hated Yankees. New York had just beaten out the Sox in the sweepstakes for pitcher Mike Mussina. Two years earlier it beat out the Sox to land outfielder Bernie Williams.

Duquette was not going to let it happen again. He dropped a staggering amount of money (at the time) for one of the game’s best right-hand hitters. The Sox were back in business – and celebrating a championship in his fourth year with the Sox.

The Red Sox have missed the playoffs in five of the last six years. The Dodgers seem to land every coveted superstar, while the Mets have written some of the biggest checks in the game. The Yankees are still smarting from a World Series loss. It will be costly for the Sox to jump back into the deep end of the talent pool, but that’s what it will take to get a .500 team back to the playoffs.

The MLB winter meetings began Monday in Dallas. Red Sox fans are waiting impatiently for big news from the club, whether it’s the signing of Soto, a marquee pitcher or a surprise trade. Whatever the Sox do, it will be expensive.  But not doing anything this winter would be far more costly to their reputation.

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I’m a soccer fan (and, in full disclosure, part of the Portland Hearts of Pine ownership group). In-season tournaments are part of the global soccer culture. The Premier League, for example, takes breaks for Champions League games, the FA Cup and other tournaments.

With this in mind, I was willing to buy into the NBA Cup. Now in its second year, the Cup features an in-season championship following group-stage and knockout games.

It’s not capturing fans’ imagination, but it could. No one asked, but here are a few ways to improve the in-season Cup experience:

• Don’t have the Cup games count toward the regular season.

• Expand rosters for Cup games. Let Maine Celtics players get experience in meaningful competition. European soccer has long seen teams call up youngsters for in-season cup games. That way you’re not wearing down your stars.

• Get rid of the point differential as a tie-breaker. Watching teams foul opponents with a double-digit lead to run up the score is not what most fans want. Find a new way to break ties so the games are decided by wins and losses, not one-sided blowouts.

Oh, and one last thing: Ditch that red court the Celtics played on in Chicago on Friday night. That may have been the ugliest playing surface I’ve ever seen in any sport.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN.