With one free agent, the Mets have announced their new standing among baseball powers, have stolen from their neighbor nemeses and have altered the landscape of sports in New York.
Steve Cohen’s Mets have signed Juan Soto to a 15-year deal worth $765 million.
Soto will team with NL MVP runner-up Francisco Lindor on a team that surprised in 2024 and now will assume World Series expectations for next season and perhaps far beyond.
Soto will say goodbye to Aaron Judge, the AL MVP for a Yankees club that is not accustomed to losing out on star free agents and now will have to scramble.
On a Hall of Fame trajectory, Soto has been among the best hitters in baseball since debuting in 2018.
Just 26, the outfielder has been perhaps the most reliable slugger in the game and is coming off of his best season, in which he posted a .989 OPS with a career-best 41 home runs in his sole season in The Bronx.
The Yankees mortgaged part of their future — including a Cy Young contender in Michael King — to get Soto into pinstripes for one season.
A magical year ended three wins shy of a World Series championship.
If there were hopes that Soto’s experience as a Yankee would lead to a long-term deal, Cohen’s $765 million proved the bigger lure.