New York Mets owner Steve Cohen was well aware of the competition when he obtained a “yes” from superstar outfielder Juan Soto on a 15-year, $765 million deal—the biggest professional sports contract ever.
Soto had just completed a stellar 2024 season with the New York Yankees that helped the team reach the World Series. The 26-year-old batted .288 with 41 home runs and 109 RBI as he made his third All-MLB first team and earned his fifth Silver Slugger award.
Winners of 27 World Series titles, the Yankees have long been MLB’s most dominant franchise. The current team has a plethora of stars whom Soto could play alongside such as outfielder Aaron Judge.
“Juan was great. But what they had … I didn’t know how to solve that,” he added.
Soto had a one-year, $31 million deal with the Yankees and opted to move over to the Mets for the mega deal. He will average $51 million per year under his new contract, which includes a $75 million signing bonus.
“The Yankees are the Yankees. I respect that,” Cohen explained. “This is not about the Yankees versus the Mets.”
“It’s about competing for a player. We both can exist in New York. There’s plenty of room,” he added.
While Soto can opt out in 2030, the Mets can void it with an additional $4 million per year from 2030 to 2039. Soto won’t become an unrestricted free agent until 2040.
Before the Yankees and Mets, Soto had a one-year, $23 million deal with the San Diego Padres, and he never made more than $17 million in a season with the Washington Nationals, where he started. Washington signed the Dominican Republic native in 2015, and he played in the minor leagues until moving up to the big leagues in 2018.
Soto made an instant impact with the Nationals as he hit .292 for 22 home runs and 70 RBI in 2018 followed by .282 for 34 home runs and 110 RBI in 2019. He helped the Nationals win the World Series in 2019, and Soto built his young legacy the following year as the MLB batting champion with a .351 average.
His success continued in 2021 as the runner-up for NL MVP award behind Bryce Harper, and Soto kept rolling in 2022 as the eighth-youngest player in MLB history to reach 100 career home runs. Washington ultimately couldn’t get a long-term deal done with Soto and traded him to the Padres in August 2022.
With the Padres, Soto batted .265 for 41 home runs and 125 RBIs in 214 games between 2022 and 2023. He also helped the Padres reach the NLCS in 2022, his second of three postseason appearances.
Soto will now look to take the Mets to the next level. The Mets fell short in the NLCS this year to the eventual world champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Juan’s going to be very happy with the Mets,” Cohen said.
