Mets Sign Juan Soto To Record Deal - Put Baseball World On Notice
Plus, lifting the curtain on a scrapped Soto piece that the world was never going to see...
Juan Soto is a member of the New York Mets.
No, Mets fans, you are not dreaming. You now get to root for the best hitter in the game every single day for well over a decade.
As first reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Mets have signed Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract. The deal contains no deferred money, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. And, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, an already mind-blowing deal could rise to $805 million if the Mets void Soto’s opt-out after the fifth year of the contract by escalating the average annual value from $51 million to $55 million over the last 10 years.
Simply put - this is a historic, record-breaking contract in every single aspect.
It is also hugely significant in the sense that it officially marks a seismic sea change both in New York, and in the sport of baseball overall.
According to Andy Martino of SNY, the Yankees were in pole position to bring Soto back to the Bronx until late on Sunday when Mets owner Steve Cohen, unrestricted thanks to an overabundance of wealth, decided he would not be denied in signing the true generational hitter.
Thanks to his unrelenting determination, coupled with his mind-blowing financial resources, the Mets beat out the Yankees for an elite free agent. When was the last time that happened?
So, just like that, the Mets have arrived in truly spectacular fashion and are no longer the embarrassing little brother in New York. No, instead they sit alone atop the mountaintop with the Yankees, no longer the universally feared Evil Empire, left licking their wounds in the background.
Now, to give credit where it is due, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner held up his end of the bargain by tabling a final offer of 16 years and $760 million. You can’t accuse the Yanks of being cheap or of not trying. But, in the end, it wasn’t enough.
Because, ultimately, Soto stayed true to his word by going where the most money was offered. And, not only were the Mets able to offer the true box office superstar the richest contract in baseball history, but they also have the financial might to go out and add other high-end pieces around their newest and shiniest toy thanks to Cohen. They were able to offer Soto the guarantee of being competitive and being in contention to win the World Series year in and year out.
The Soto signing changes everything for the Mets, who have spent so much of their existence being the laughing stock of the entire sports world. If only seven years ago you floated the idea of the Mets competing with the Yankees for one of the very best players on the planet, you would have been laughed out of the room after having had your sports fandom card stripped away from you for life.
The very thought of the Mets beating out the Yankees for a legit superstar would have been unfathomable.
But, those days are gone. The Mets, thanks to a perfect storm of Cohen’s riches, president of baseball operations David Stearns’ high baseball IQ and a young manager in Carlos Mendoza who pushes all the right buttons, have now truly arrived.
After reaching the NLCS last year following a truly remarkable and unlikely fairytale run, the Mets are legitimate World Series contenders with Soto now in the building. Plus, with plenty of financial flexibility, the Mets won’t be done yet, either. They are still in the market for a frontend starter, the bullpen needs rebuilding, the lineup needs deepening and it remains to be seen if a return for Pete Alonso can be worked out.
Regardless, a truly wild offseason has only just begun for the Mets.
And so too has a brand new era. These are no longer your dysfunctional New York Mets who couldn’t get out of their own way. No, we are now talking about a formidable force. The new kings of New York who are ready to do and spend whatever it takes in order to win. And, yes, I’m still talking about the Mets and not the Yankees.
Soto, who had a monster year with the Yankees in 2024 after hitting .288/.419/.569 with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs, not only changed the game of baseball on Sunday, but he also changed the entire perception of the New York Mets in one single night.
Now let the fun begin.
Oh, and by the way, Mets fans, there is going to be plenty of fun involved when it comes to watching Soto slugging it out in Queens. In 35 career games at Citi Field, he owns an absurd 1.175 OPS with 12 home runs. Yeah, this is a marriage made in heaven.
I’ll have a bunch of thoughts on Soto signing with the Mets over the next day or so.
But, for now, I want to leave you with a little something from behind the scenes…
As a sports writer, our job is to report and put together compelling pieces for our readers to enjoy. That’s the simple version, anyway. But what so often gets overlooked is the stuff that doesn’t get published. The articles that get left stranded on the cutting room floor, if you like.
Usually, these abandoned pieces never get to see the light of day. But, given how today is such a gargantuan day in the history of baseball, I wanted to share with you an article I had written earlier that had to get chopped.
I’m lucky enough to cover the Mets for a couple of sites, including the wonderful
- which I highly recommend you subscribe to if you are a Mets fan. Anyway, in order to be prepared for all eventualities, I put together a piece earlier ready for the scenario in which Soto signed elsewhere.Now, as I was frantically typing this out once we got word that a decision was likely to be made tonight, I became more and more convinced that Soto was going to return to the Yankees. By the time I sent the piece in to the boss, I was almost sure that Soto would be heading to the Bronx rather than to Queens.
Instead, the Mets won the Soto sweepstakes and my rushed efforts proved to be in vain. That’s just part of the business when you are a sports writer. We are all sitting on a grave full of stories that will never see life.
However, for this one time only, I’m going to buck that trend by letting you see, in full, the piece I had prepared just in case Soto signed with any team not named the Mets.
Here you go…
The dream is over. All the agonizing waiting was for nothing. Juan Soto is not going to be a member of the New York Mets.
As first reported by XXX, Soto ultimately decided to take his talents to XXX
It is a crushing blow for owner Steve Cohen, who hoped to use his significant financial might to tempt one of the best hitters baseball has ever seen to Queens. It is also a major disappointment for the Mets, who were hoping to add a true box office superstar to their roster in order to mount a legitimate World Series push.
Instead, Soto will now be suiting up for XXX for the next decade plus. As a result, the Mets will have to move on from the heartbreak of being left jilted at the office by the best hitter in the game, and instead move on to Plan B, C, D, and E.
It is not the news Mets fans would have wanted to go to bed on tonight. After all, it isn’t often a player like Soto comes along. The uber-talented slugger, who is entering his age-26 season, enjoyed a sensational season in 2024 with the Yankees, posting 8.1 fWAR while hitting .288/.419/.569 with 31 doubles, four triples, 41 home runs, 109 RBI, 129 walks, and 128 runs scored. He has hit 201 home runs with a .953 OPS over his first seven big league seasons with 36.3 fWAR.
So, what does the future minus Soto look like for the Mets? Just what exactly is the backup plan?
Well, for starters, with the glittering prize of this year’s free agency class now off the board, expect the rest of the market to explode over the coming days. With the Winter Meetings getting underway on Monday, we should start to see a slew of moves go down.
As such, and having now missed out on their top target, the Mets should be uber-aggressive the rest of the way. They have a ton of needs to address and a boatload of financial flexibility with which to fill those holes on the roster.
There are a myriad of paths for the Mets to go down with Soto now out of the picture, and one of those paths may be re-signing Pete Alonso. As I touched on in a previous editorial, which you can read HERE, you can make a really compelling argument that this team as presently constituted needs Alonso more than ever now that Soto has signed elsewhere. There is a significant lack of pop in this lineup, and losing Alonso as well would leave the front office with a lot of work to do in addressing that worrying lack of power. Granted, Alonso wasn’t his usual dominant self in 2024, especially in clutch situations, but he still hit 34 home runs with 88 RBIs. That kind of production is hard to replace. And, having missed out on Soto, the Mets have both the need and the money to bring back Alonso.
If president of baseball operations David Stearns is reluctant to give out a long-term contract to Alonso, who has just turned 30, there are other options. Of course, one of those options won’t be Willy Adames, who agreed to a seven-year, $182 million deal with the Giants over the weekend. Alex Bregman, who boasts a ton of experience and knows how to win on the biggest stage, is still available and would give the Mets a really strong infield with Mark Vientos shifting over to first base. Outside of Bregman, New York could opt to trade for Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado. That would be a pricey move given that Arenado still has over $70 million left on his contract and the Mets would have to give up draft capital. However, there is no denying that, despite a dip in his offensive production, Arenado is still a tremendous defender and would be a clear upgrade at the hot corner in that respect.
Outside of the names already mentioned, there are some compelling options in the ilk of Anthony Santander, who is coming off a career year with the Orioles, having hit 44 home runs with 102 RBIs in 2024. He would help bolster the outfield and add a big bat in the middle of the lineup. Teoscar Hernández, who played a big role in the Dodgers winning the World Series, could be another option.
Outside of position players, it is no secret that the Mets have a real need for starting pitching. Even after signing Frankie Montas, the rotation is in a real state of flux heading into 2025, and the front office needs at least one front-end arm. Having been spurned by Soto, could Cohen be extra-motivated to go all out for four-time All-Star Corbin Burnes? Or could Max Fried be the big-name free agent starter the team goes after? Or do they pursue both? Either way, the Mets need at least one front-end starter, and that should now be the priority, along with bringing Alonso back to Queens.
The bullpen also needs rebuilding in order to give Edwin DÃaz more help going forward. So, all in all, the Mets have a lot of needs to address, a ton of holes to fill, and a treasure chest of money to accomplish it all.
Of course, the disappointment of missing out on a true generational player like Juan Soto will linger for a while. There’s no way it can’t. This was Cohen’s golden opportunity to hold the advantage of his wealth over the rest of baseball, including the Yankees. Instead, he has learned the hard truth that money can’t always buy everything.
Soto is now a member of XXX, and we have to learn to accept that.
All that matters now is the Mets rebounding from this significant setback. What they do over the coming days and weeks could be season-defining as far as 2025 is concerned.
Getting up off the mat is an absolute must in sports, and now the New York Mets must do exactly that after missing out on their number one target this offseason.
Again, not all articles make it through. This was one of them and, in this instance, I’m glad it didn’t make the cut.
I’ll see you on Monday as we prepare for what should be a chaotic week in baseball with Free Agency now well and truly up and running.