Juan Soto Will Change the Perception of the New York Mets

The contract is getting all the headlines and rightfully so.

Juan Soto just signed the biggest deal in MLB history: A 15-year, $765 million contract, which includes a vesting opt-out clause that could take the deal to $805 million.

Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract, which shocked the world, only held the record for one trip around the sun before Soto grabbed the title of baseball’s highest-paid player. Quite frankly, he ripped it out of his hands.

For all the talk about how Soto would pass Ohtani’s contract in present-day value, which he did by $300 million, Juan Soto’s deal was for more money overall, and not a single penny of it is deferred.

A bidding frenzy that pinned the two New York teams against one another led to Steve Cohen making Soto an offer he couldn’t refuse, despite the Yankees being prepared to more than double Aaron Judge’s contract to keep Soto batting ahead of him in the Bronx.

Ever since Soto spoke to the media following the World Series, pundits said he was going to the highest bidder. And yet they all seemed surprised when the richest owner in the sport was the one who pushed all the chips forward to get a deal done.

What people are missing by talking about the money, though, is that this signing was a legacy play by Steve Cohen. A contract that serves as an official announcement that the New York Mets are a powerhouse that is here to stay.

Steve Cohen Is Not Playing Nice Anymore

When Judge was a free agent two years ago, Cohen did not even entertain the idea of trying to pouch him from his crosstown rival. Judge was a homegrown Yankee star, and Cohen did not try to throw his wallet around to press him away from being anything but that moving forward.

Last year, when the Yankees cut the line to Soto by trading for him before he hit free agency, it was clear even then that Cohen would not pay them the same courtesy again.

Still, this gave the Yankees an entire season to build a relationship with Soto and prove they were the team with whom he should spend the remainder of his career.

When Soto hit the late, game-winning home run to clinch the Yankees’ first World Series berth in 15 years (the same amount of time as his new deal), it seemed like a marriage that was built to last.

Five games later, the Yankees lost the World Series and Soto was speaking to the media with a backwards Yankee cap announcing himself as open to all 30 teams.

This set the stage for a picture-perfect free agency by Soto and his agent Scott Boras.

Boras might not be able to bluff as well as he used to, but damnit if he doesn’t know how to play poker when he’s got a good hand. And in Juan Soto, Boras was sitting on pocket aces, which turned into four of a kind when he hit the turn and got five owners in on the bidding.

That’s how $500 million turns into $600 million, then $600 million turns into $700 million.

The thing is, Soto’s contract could turn into $805 million, and it took a very motivated owner to make that a possibility. The Yankees offered Soto $760 million. Only $5 less million than the Mets in terms of total guaranteed value.

There could have been two or three other teams that exceeded that $700 million figure, but we do not know how those deals were structured. Some could have put deferred money in the deal, others might have used the Yankees’ strategy and gone to 16 years.

Ultimately, the Mets put the most aggressive offer in front of Soto and Boras. They gave him a $75 million signing bonus, and an opt-out after year five of the deal.

If Soto opts out, the Mets can opt in to raising his salary to $55 million per for the final 10 years of the deal. In doing so, they were rewarded with his services for the remainder of what is trending towards being a Hall of Fame career.

If nothing else, the aggressiveness for which the Mets pursued Soto showed him how serious Cohen is about winning a World Series. The man who infamously said he would like to win a World Series in the first three to five years of ownership is entering year five in a better position than he has ever been.

The Mets went from a fire sale in 2023 to signing the most expensive free agent in MLB history a little over 16 months later.

In between, Cohen hired one of the top executives in the sport, David Stearns, to be his president of baseball operations and watched as his team went to the NLCS in year one of Stearns’ leadership.

The deep playoff run was thanks to Cohen’s first high-priced investment paying massive dividends, as Francisco Lindor finished runner-up in NL MVP voting and delivered time after time in October.

Yet, what Lindor needed more than anything was a running mate. And Cohen made sure he got one no matter what.

The ramifications of this signing are going to be felt for years to come, as the Mets will find it very hard to ever get under the luxury tax threshold. But ends justify the means if you are Cohen and you are trying to change the perception of the New York Mets.

Earning Respect as the “New” Mets

The Mets have made the playoffs in two of the last three years, winning 101 games in 2022 and making it two wins from the World Series in 2024. In between came the disaster that was the 2023 collapse for the Mets, which set the franchise back in terms of public perception.

It was the same old Mets, who couldn’t sustain their winning and were scrapping their playbook and starting over yet again. Or at least that is how the 2023 season was perceived on the outside.

Inside, the Mets knew they still had some good players, and new POBO David Stearns was motivated to try to win now while keeping an eye squarely on the future. In his first offseason, the Mets gambled on prove-it deal players in free agency and hit big on a couple of pitchers.

Luis Severino and Sean Manaea were two of the best signings of last year’s free agent class, with both clearing 180 innings pitched on a sub-4.00 ERA. From thin air, and without the services of incumbent ace Kodai Senga, the Mets formed a rotation that was good enough to make it to the playoffs.

Inspired play by Lindor, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos once there had the Mets on the doorstep of making it to the World Series. In the process, the Mets completely flipped their narrative as a franchise once again.

If not for OMG, Grimace, and the magical run that was the 2024 season for the Mets, who knows if Cohen and Stearns could have convinced Soto to sign on the dotted line (regardless of the contract).

But thanks to a year in which the Mets earned back a lot of pride, the franchise was in position to win the services of a man who has been described as a “once-in-a-generation free agent.”

Juan Soto Will Be a Mets Icon

Juan Soto might not have the hearts of an entire nation like Shohei Ohtani does, but if he can swing New York City, that would be worth every penny to Cohen and the Mets.

The Mets have not won a World Series since 1986. If they don’t win and end the drought in this upcoming season, the Mets will have gone four decades between titles. In between, the Yankees have won five titles, as they dominated during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

When it comes to the Mets, they have never dominated an entire decade. In fact, if they made the playoffs again in 2025, it would be the first time in franchise history with three playoff berths in four years.

Soto enters the fold with the Mets at the precipice of becoming a sustained winner for the first time ever. Francisco Lindor was the first superstar that bought into the vision. Now Soto will team up with him to make it a reality.

If things go as planned, Soto and Lindor will go down as the two greatest players in franchise history, and that is not hyperbole.

When it came to his Yankees legacy, Soto was always going to be fighting an uphill battle.

In a career year in which he finished third in MVP voting, Soto lost the award to his teammate Aaron Judge. In October, Soto looked like the better all-around hitter, but it was always going to be Judge’s team, and rightfully so.

While Lindor finished runner-up in NL MVP, his game is far more predicated on the things that Soto is not great at doing himself. Lindor is the best defensive shortstop in baseball, who just came into his own as a leader in the Mets clubhouse.

Soto can enter the fold and not worry about anything but leading with his bat. In doing so, he will be the one vying for MVPs moving forward (likely not Lindor).

Yes, Soto signed with the Mets because they gave him the best offer, but that alone does not tell the full story. Soto is signing with a team that has a motivated owner, a smart top executive, and a fellow superstar who has proven to be a winner on the biggest stage.

With the Yankees, Soto could have gotten a plaque in Monument Park. With the Mets, he could get a statue outside of Citi Field next to Tom Seaver.

Only time will tell how Soto’s Mets story will unfold, but the possibilities are truly endless. Whatever happens from here, one thing is clear: Juan Soto just changed everything for the New York Mets.