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With a week to go before the Winter Meetings start in Dallas, the Red Sox have prioritized securing Juan Soto and his generational left-handed bat.

Unlike the past few offseasons, when the Sox weren¡¯t major players in free agency, they are pushing hard for one of the premier players in the sport -- one who will easily receive the most lucrative contract in this Hot Stove Season.

Yes, there are other needs for a team that has missed the playoffs the last three years. Boston needs at least one front-line starting pitcher

There is a bullpen that needs a lot of upgrades.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is monitoring all areas, while keeping most of the team¡¯s focus on Soto, who is 26 years old but already well into what will likely be a Hall of Fame career.

? Latest Soto rumors

The Red Sox are going to have to beat New York -- both the Yankees and Mets -- for Soto. The Blue Jays are also in the mix, but Boston would seem to be a more appealing destination, especially when you consider the uncertain future of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in Toronto.

After focusing on short-term contracts and building the farm system in recent years, the Sox have made it clear they are ready to spend again.

President/CEO Sam Kennedy made that clear in a recent interview at the GM Meetings. Asked if the Sox could make another mammoth financial commitment after signing Rafael Devers to a $313 million contract two years ago, Kennedy didn¡¯t blink.

¡°Is that possible? If that¡¯s what it takes, yeah, absolutely,¡± Kennedy told The Boston Globe¡¯s Michael Silverman. ¡°We are investing more than we did last year. We intend to invest going forward.

¡°There is an extreme urgency internally to be competing for the American League East championship and to set ourselves up for a deep postseason run in 2025 without question. The goal is to win 90-plus games to not be worrying about a Wild Card spot.¡±

And it doesn¡¯t hurt to have a recruiter with the cache of David Ortiz.

¡°Everybody wants a piece of him,¡± said Ortiz in a recent interview with MLB.com. ¡°That¡¯s the man of the hour. The Sox, we are trying to do our job, trying to get him on board. We are trying to get him ... I¡¯m going to do my job as best I can and see if we can get him on our squad, but the front office is ready. They¡¯re ready to pay him.¡±

The Red Sox sent a contingent that included Kennedy, Breslow and manager Alex Cora last month to meet with Soto and agent Scott Boras.

It was said to be a solid presentation in which the Sox highlighted the optimism of their future, the fit Soto could have at Fenway Park and how he could follow in the footsteps of other Dominican legends who won championships in Boston.

According to industry speculation, it will take anywhere between 12 and 14 years to secure Soto, and a price that will probably end up over $600 million.

It would be the biggest contract in Red Sox history, and perhaps one that would spearhead the resurgence of a tradition-rich franchise that has missed the postseason in five of the last six years.

The presence of Soto in Boston would likely to lead other free agents to want to follow him there.

¡°In our free agency discussions so far, there has been, I would say, a very strong feeling from agents and players that the Boston Red Sox are going to be a force over the next five to seven years, given the guys who have already emerged at the big league level and the guys who are coming from the Triple-A and levels below that level,¡± Kennedy told The Globe.