DALLAS — It was 2000 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas when superstar shortstop Alex Rodríguez signed a massive, 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers, becoming the highest-paid player in history professional sports, with his agent, Scott Boras, doing it.
Twenty-four years later, at the start of the winter meetings in the same hotel in Dallashistory repeated itself. This time it’s Juan Soto who becomes the man of record, with Boras once again sending shockwaves through the sport following Soto’s deal on Sunday. to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets. The deal surpasses Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers. the biggest contract in the history of professional sports.
The signing of Soto is a monumental victory for the Mets. Not only are they guaranteeing generational talent for potentially the next 15 years (Soto has an opt-out after year five), but they are also continuing to build on a future that looks very bright. After an NLCS appearance in 2024, the Mets add the 26-year-old superstar to a roster that includes another superstar, shortstop Francisco Lindor, and young, ascending talents, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez. This is exactly the step a team that was on the brink of the World Series should take to get to the next level.
No sports team has ever made this type of commitment to a player. Not only is the reported deal bigger than Ohtani’s, but Soto will have both the highest average annual value ($51 million) and the highest total value ($765 million) on the team. baseball history, if the deal goes through.
The details could be even more breathtaking.
The $75 million signing bonus Soto will receive is more than Luis Severino’s full three-year contract with the A’s – which, by the way, was the largest contract in franchise history. There would be no carryover money in Soto’s deal, and if he opts for the fifth year, escalators could bring the total value to $800 million.
This deal has Steve Cohen’s fingerprints all over it. This would never have happened under the Mets’ previous ownership. A big reason Soto’s mega-deal reached the $765 million threshold is the bidding war between Cohen and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner. After years of the Yankees having a team and ownership group that bullied other teams into submissionThat’s exactly what the Mets owner did by taking the former Yankees star and rooting him in Queens.
If Soto had signed with the Dodgers, Phillies, Blue Jays or even the Red Sox, his signing wouldn’t have seemed as big as this one. Soto, jumping his talents on the 7 train for what would be just $5 million more than the Yankees’ best offer, makes this move seem like a heist.
When Cohen bought the Mets in 2020, it was the outcome other baseball team owners feared. It was only a matter of time before the 97th richest man in the world and by far the richest owner in sports decided he wasn’t going to be denied. And now, as the Mets steal Soto from their crosstown rivals, the power in New York is shifting to Queens. Not only did Cohen convince Soto that being a Met is a better option than being a Yankee, but he also signaled to all in sports that his sleeping, spending giant is now fully awake.
None of this should surprise the baseball world. After Cohen bought the Mets, other owners were so wary of what he could do that they set new tax thresholds in the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT), known as the Cohen tax,” to penalize spending at ridiculous levels. This deal brings laughter in the face of this tax – and in the face of owners who were afraid to use their wealth to improve their teams.
And let’s be clear: Soto’s $765 million deal is just a starting point for the Mets, who still have areas they can and should improve before spring training. A team that invests at this level with a single player undoubtedly has its eyes on much more, and for good reason. If you want this deal to be worth it in the long run, you better win with it.
Make no mistake. It’s a historic day for the Mets. It’s also a sign to the rest of the sport that, like it or not, there’s a new sheriff in town.