The New York Mets on Sunday gave Juan Soto the closest thing to a blank check in professional sports.
The Mets awarded Soto a 15-year, $765 million contract to poach him away from the New York Yankees in free agency. Soto surpassed the monstrous $700 million deal Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
Unlike Ohtani’s Dodgers contract, Soto’s pact reportedly does not include a single penny of deferred money. Team owner Steve Cohen fully intends to pay Soto every cent throughout the duration of the agreement.
The contract pays Soto around $51 million in average annual value (AAV). Soto also gets a $75 million signing bonus. The Yankees’ offer to Soto was reportedly lower at $47.5 million in AAV.
Soto’s contract also includes an opt-out after Year 5, right after the 2029 season. However, the Mets could also void Soto’s Year 5 opt-out by increasing Soto’s AAV from $51 million to $55 million over the contract’s final 10 years.
In such a scenario, Soto’s deal would go from $765 million to an even more astonishing $805 million.
The Mets were one of the best feel-good stories of last season. The team got to two wins away from making the World Series and facing Soto himself in a Subways Series for the ages.
With Soto now playing in orange and blue for the foreseeable future, the Mets may become one of the favorites to challenge for the NL pennant for years to come.
The fact that the Mets were able to stick it to their crosstown rival Yankees was a bonus.
