Juan Soto agreed to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets this offseason. It was the largest contract ever handed out to a professional athlete based on total value.
As it turns out, he may have been able to get more.
During a recent interview with Abriendo Sports, Soto, speaking in Spanish, said other teams offered him a larger deal but he ultimately settled on the Mets because of their family-friendly vibe.
“The Mets didn’t offer the most money,” Soto said, via SNY. “Some teams offered more.”
In addition to the Mets, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers were believed to be the final teams Soto was considering. However, none of their reported offers eclipsed that of the Mets, with the Yankees allegedly coming in with an offer of 16 years and $760 million.
But that may have just been semantics.
SNY’s Andy Martino reports that “multiple teams,” including the Red Sox, were willing to offer more than the Mets if they were certain Soto would have been willing to accept it.
In the end, he wasn’t. The importance of family and not uprooting his loved ones played a larger role in Soto’s decision than whatever extra few million other teams were willing to offer.
