Mets’ New Era: With Soto on Board, Steve Cohen Has Ushered in a New Change of…
It was the year 2000 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas when superstar shortstop Alex Rodríguez signed a massive, 10-year, $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers, becoming the highest paid player in the history of professional sports, with his agent, Scott Boras, getting it done.
Twenty-four years later, at the onset of the winter meetings at the same hotel in Dallas, history has repeated itself. This time, it’s Juan Soto who becomes the man of record, with Boras once again sending shockwaves through the sport after Soto agreed Sunday to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets. The deal overtakes Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million pact with the Dodgers as the largest contract in the history of professional sports.
Soto’s signing is a monumental win for the Mets. Not only do they secure a generational talent for potentially the next 15 years (Soto has an opt-out after the fifth year), but they also continue to build on a future that looks very bright. Coming off an NLCS appearance in 2024, the Mets add the 26-year-old superstar to a lineup that includes another superstar in shortstop Francisco Lindor, and ascending young talent in Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez. This is exactly the step that a team that was on the precipice of the World Series should be taking to get to the next level.
No team in sports has ever made this type of commitment to a player. Not only is the reported deal larger than Ohtani’s, but Soto it will have both the highest average annual value ($51 million) and the highest total value ($765 million) in baseball history, if the deal goes to term.
The details might be even more mind-blowing.
The $75 million signing bonus Soto will receive is larger than Luis Severino’s entire three-year deal with the A’s — which, by the way, was the biggest contract in the franchise’s history. There is reportedly no deferred money in Soto’s deal, and if he opts into the fifth year, escalators could take the total value to $800 million.
