Talk of Juan Soto’s free agency dominated the baseball landscape for the past month and it all came to a head Sunday night when the generational talent — along with his superagent Scott Boras — landed the largest contract in professional sports history.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen wasn’t going to let money be the reason he didn’t land Soto and so he outbid everyone else, just as many in the industry felt he would. As a result, the Mets successfully pried a pillar away from the New York Yankees and suddenly shifted the balance of power in the city.
Here’s a closer look at the contract and its implications.
Juan Soto signs a 15-year, $765-million deal with the New York Mets. The contract includes an opt-out after five years and no deferred money. If he chooses not to opt out, there are escalators in the contract that would raise Soto’s salary by $4 million per year for the remainder and drive the total value beyond $800 million.
The Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox were all left hanging in their pursuit of Soto and must now pivot elsewhere.
Soto famously turned down a 15-year, $440-million contract from the Washington Nationals in 2022 and how smart does that decision look now? He bet on himself and won.
It was a perfect scenario: The outfielder entered free agency at 26-years-old, is in the prime of his career and is coming off a monster season with the Yankees. Soto hit 41 home runs, drew 129 walks and posted a .989 OPS with 8.1 fWAR in 2024. On top of that, his advanced metrics, from an offensive perspective, are insane. Detractors will point to his subpar outfield defence and baserunning, but that’s less important here. The bottom line is that Soto is arguably the best hitter in the sport and is on track for the Hall of Fame.
The team that ultimately signed him wasn’t just going to add a hitter who boosted its chances at a World Series championship. Additionally, that organization was going to acquire a legacy player. Soto has a good shot at becoming the best player in Mets history and, if he eventually breaks some all-time MLB records, he’ll do so wearing a Mets uniform.
The Mets enjoyed a resurgence last season that saw them in the National League Championship Series and two wins short of a World Series berth. The key pieces were already in place for the club and now president of baseball operations David Stearns gets to insert Soto into the mix.
Soto will pair with shortstop Francisco Lindor to form a superstar duo atop the lineup. Add the upstart Mark Vientos and we’re talking about a scary lineup.
Let’s take a quick step away from the on-the-field considerations to look at the bigger picture, though. The Mets are now led by Soto, who hails from the Dominican Republic, and Lindor, who is from Puerto Rico. These players are legends on their respective islands and the Mets will benefit from that, both inside New York City and abroad, when it comes to widening the team’s fan base.
We also can’t talk about a Soto-Mets deal without considering how it impacts the cross-town Yankees, who tried hard to retain the outfielder. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner offered $760 million over 16 years, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Yankees will never lose their popularity, but the pressure is on Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman to appease a fan base that’s not happy.
We’ve also seen what the Yankees lineup is without Soto. Just look back to 2022 and ’23 when Aaron Judge carried the club with little-to-no help from other offensive contributors. The Bronx Bombers now have a huge hole to fill and how the club bolsters its offence this winter is worth watching because it will impact the entire outlook of the American League East.
MLB Trade Rumours predicated a 13-year, $600-million deal for Soto. He blew well past that in both term and total value.
Everybody else. With the big fish out of the pond, the rest of the free-agent contingent will be in focus. This especially applies to position players, some of whom were likely waiting for the teams who missed out on Soto to join in on a pursuit. Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and Teoscar Hernandez are among the best hitters available and you’ll likely be hearing their names a lot this week during MLB’s Winter Meetings.
