New York Mets Sign Juan Soto to the Largest Contract in MLB History

The biggest free agent on the market has officially signed. Juan Soto, a generational superstar, has signed with the New York Mets!

He’ll officially switch sides of town in New York and join the Mets as they look to build upon their impressive 2024 playoff run.

Whenever he signed, this was always going to be a historic and memorable deal. It’s extremely rare in the modern era for players to hit free agency at 26 years old and especially with the accolades Soto has racked up already.

While we all knew it was going to be a crazy contract, none of us would have anticipated that the bidding would reach $765 million over a 15-year deal. But Mets owner Steve Cohen would not be denied and now Soto is a New York Met.

The Soto Sweepstakes Finally End

Soto was the biggest story of the offseason and the team that has been the biggest threat to steal him from the Yankees gets it done as he’ll instantly become one of the key figures in Mets’ franchise history.

After Shohei Ohtani broke the record for the largest contract in professional sports history last offseason, it was hard to imagine anyone topping that.

Juan Soto, just a year later, has done just that as his contract is worth $65 million more. His deal is for $765 million across 15 years, which is hard to even fathom. Here is some context to help put this insane contract into perspective.

• $765 million that can reach over $800 million with escalators
• $75 million signing bonus
• $51 million average annual value
• Over $300k per possible game played
• No deferred money
• Opt-out clause after five years

This contract is hard to even put into words but Juan Soto is one of the best players in baseball and hit free agency earlier than any superstar has in recent history.

Reports earlier this season indicated that his deal could cross the $500 million threshold which was already crazy to imagine. It has become clear that number had increased drastically with reports this week that bidding from the two New York teams passed $700 million.

The deal ends up exceeding three quarters of a billion dollars and the New York Mets have secured their franchise superstar for at least five years and quite possibly another decade beyond that.

It has been reported that the Yankees’ final offer came in at 16 years for $760 million which is less total value but more notably much less annual value. They now face an offseason with a massive hole to fill in their lineup.

At just 26 years old, Soto has accomplished more than almost anyone in MLB history at this stage of his career. Hitting free agency at such a young age is rare, but Soto debuted at 19 years old in 2018 and became the first player born in 1998 to play in MLB.

Now set to spend likely the rest of his career with the Mets, he’ll surely achieve much more in the future. So this list of accolades will certainly continue, but here is what he has done already in his career.

• World Series champion (2019)
• 4x All-Star (2021-2024)
• 3x All-MLB First Team (2020, 2021, 2024), All-MLB Second Team (2019)
• 5x Silver Slugger Award (2020-2024)
• NL batting champion (2020)

Soto arrived in 2018 and it was clear that he was going to be a force. He took the first pitch he saw in his first MLB start deep for a three-run homer off Robbie Erlin and became the youngest player in Nationals history to hit a home run.

After finishing second to Ronald Acunã Jr. in Rookie of the Year voting in 2018, Soto became a hero for the Nationals the following season. He took the lead for Washington late in the NL Wild Card Game, hit a game-tying home run in Game Five of the NLDS off Clayton Kershaw, and then cemented his name on the biggest stage.

He led the charge for the Nationals’ offense in the World Series as he went deep three times off future hall-of-famers in Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander. The 21-year-old phenom was officially one of the best in the game.

From then on, Soto has been one of the game’s best year in and year out.

He won the NL batting title in a shortened 2020 season despite missing the first two weeks of the season due to COVID-19. Then he went on to finish as the NL MVP runner-up the following season as he posted a .313/.465/.534 slash for the Nationals.

Notably, a 23-year-old Soto was offered a 13-year, $350 million extension by the Nationals after the 2021 season but ultimately the Scott Boras’ client declined. He reportedly rejected a 15-year, $440 million offer the following season in which he was once again an All-Star and won the Home Run Derby as well.

However, he ended being traded soon after as the Nationals entered a rebuild and it became clear he was not going to sign an extension. He was subsequently dealt to the Padres in a blockbuster deal.

After a year and half with the Padres and one deep playoff run, Soto was dealt last winter to form the best duo in baseball in New York alongside Aaron Judge. He proceeded to finish third in AL MVP voting as posted a .989 OPS with 41 home runs for New York.

Through the first seven years of his career, Soto has been one of the best players in baseball and just received the contract to show for it.

Team Fit with the Mets

When Steve Cohen bought the Mets, it was clear that they would quickly become big spenders in MLB. They have officially entered the top tier now alongside the Dodgers and they probably aren’t even done yet.

Juan Soto forms a dynamic duo with NL MVP Runner-Up Francisco Lindor at the top of the Mets’ lineup. There is certainly work to be done though as Pete Alonso is a free agent and the only other surefire strong pieces in the lineup are Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo.

That first four is going to produce at an extremely high level, but the Mets will need to make some further improvements this winter to the rest of their offense. However, this team did just make it to the NLCS and, as we mentioned earlier, they’re likely still set to make moves.

They signed Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes to bolster their pitching staff, but they have been long expected to be a possible destination for some of the top arms on the market.

While the Mets have work to do still, Soto entering the fold changes the trajectory of their entire organization moving forward. They can now operate knowing they have a generational talent penciled into their lineup for years.