The Juan Soto sweepstakes are over, and the 26-year-old superstar is reportedly headed to Queens.
According to multiple reports, Soto has agreed to a historic 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets. The deal is the richest in the history of both MLB and professional sports as a whole, surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s landmark 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers from last winter.
Soto also had massive offers on the table from the New York Yankees, who he led to the World Series in his lone season with the team, as well as from the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Soto joining the Mets is a seismic moment in the franchise’s history and immediately positions New York as a credible threat to the Dodgers’ dominance in the National League. The move will also have ramifications across the sport, particularly for the clubs who made a push for his services but fell short.
That includes the Red Sox, who must now quickly pivot with their top target off the board.
Over the past five years the Red Sox have largely stayed on the sidelines when it came to the top tier of free agency, and coming into the offseason nobody thought Boston would be a credible threat. But the Red Sox wound up making a serious push, reportedly offering approximately $700 million over 15 years, more than double Rafael Devers’ franchise-record commitment.
Red Sox made $700 million offer to Juan Soto before he chose Mets (Report)
In the end, it wasn't enough.
Soto would have been a game-changer for the Red Sox, who in recent years have lacked star power and have struggled to remain relevant amid a multi-year run of mediocrity. Fairly or not, falling short with Soto will sustain the perception of the Red Sox as "interest kings" who are willing to negotiate with big names but aren't willing or able to close the deal.
Fortunately, the Red Sox still have ample opportunity to make a splash.
Nice as it would have been to lock up Soto, pitching is Boston's biggest area of need, and as of late Sunday night most of the big name arms remained on the board. If the Red Sox were prepared to sign Soto to the richest deal in MLB history, there's no reason why the club shouldn't be able to aggressive pursue one or more of the top pitchers.
Boston is also expected to remain actively involved with the top remaining hitters. Craig Breslow has identified adding a right-handed power bat as a particular area of need, one that became more acute this weekend when outfielder Tyler O'Neill agreed to a three-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles.
Soto signing elsewhere isn't all bad news for the Red Sox. His decision to leave the Bronx for Queens amounts to a catastrophe for the Yankees.
Before Soto arrived in New York, the Yankees were coming off their worst season in decades, an 82-80 debacle. The club traded five players — including standout right-hander Michael King and top pitching prospect Drew Thorpe — for Soto, and he immediately helped turn the Yankees back into a contender and led New York to its first World Series appearance in 15 years.
The Yankees made the trade fully expecting to work out a deal to keep Soto in pinstripes for the rest of his career. Instead he went one-and-done and is now set to join the club's crosstown rival.
In the short-term, losing Soto leaves a gaping hole in the heart of New York's lineup. The club's projected outfield now features Aaron Judge, Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham, and outside of the oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton, New York no longer has a credible power threat who can serve as protection for Judge. The Yankees will surely react aggressively to shore up its roster, but compared to two months ago this team is vastly diminished.
Beyond that, Soto's decision is a blow to the Yankees' collective aura.
Not long ago the idea that a generational superstar would choose to leave the Yankees to play for the Mets would have been inconceivable. George Steinbrenner never would have let it happen, and yet now the Yankees face a sobering reality that, even within their own city, they are no longer the sport's unquestioned top dogs.
Ever since Steve Cohen bought the Mets he's promised to use his vast wealth to turn the club into a perennial powerhouse. Sunday night he delivered on that promise, committing a mind-boggling sum of money to reshape the sport's balance of power.
Before Soto no player in MLB history had ever signed a contract worth more than $500 million in present day dollars. Even Ohtani's historic $700 million deal was heavily deferred, with the Dodgers only paying him $2 million annually over the life of the contract before the big dollars kick in later down the road.
But for Cohen, whose net worth is estimated at $21.5 billion, money wasn't going to be an obstacle.
Not only will the Mets pay Soto $765 million over 15 years, they will reportedly do so without deferring any money and while paying out a $75 million signing bonus. Soto will reportedly have the ability to opt out after five years, but the Mets can also cancel that opt out by raising his salary over the remaining 10 years from $51 million to $55 million, which would increase the total value of the deal to as much as $805 million.
Read that again. $805 million.
With Cohen's deep pockets the Mets are operating in an entirely different stratosphere, and after spending their entire existence operating in the Yankees' shadow, the Mets can now rightfully assert themselves as their rivals' equals, if not superiors. The Mets still face a tall task dealing with the powerhouse Dodgers in the National League, but after reaching Game 6 of the NLCS the club is well positioned to contend for years to come.
And with Cohen's resources, Soto might only be the beginning.