This Contract Changes Baseball Forever
How Soto Going Across Town In Free Agency Changes the Game
Ever since his debut in 2018, Juan Soto has been looked at as one of the most talented players in Major League Baseball. Throughout the first 7 seasons of his career, Soto hit .285/.421/.953 with a total of 201 homeruns, 592 RBIs, & 655 runs scored. When averaged out, Soto would have about 29 homeruns, 85 RBIs, & 94 runs scored each season. Although Soto has been a superstar his whole career, the best days for him are still to come as he recently inked a record-setting deal with the New York Mets that will change baseball forever.
After losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 2024 Fall Classic, Juan Soto officially became a free agent, and he was definitely the top free agent on the market. Going into the offseason, the top teams to sign Soto were the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, & the Toronto Blue Jays. However, as the offseason continued, the price of Juan Soto’s contract continued to go up and the teams in the race for Soto continued to decrease.
Around the first week of December, the teams that were still in on signing Soto were down to the New York Yankees, New York Mets, & the Boston Red Sox. Around this time, it also came out that the bidding for Soto exceeded $700 million, which would very likely exceed Shohei Ohtani’s record contract.
On Sunday, December 8th, news broke that Juan Soto agreed to a record-deal with the New York Mets. This contract was a 15-year, $765 million deal. With this deal, the New York Mets added an MLB superstar to their roster & changed baseball forever.
Soto’s 15-year, $765 million deal becomes the largest contract in Major League Baseball history & the largest in professional sports history— passing Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers last offseason. Unlike Ohtani’s deal, Soto’s contact has no differed money, giving him an average salary of $55 million per season AAV. With this ridiculous money, Soto will make around $314,815 per game throughout his career with the Mets. Although athletes usually make a ton of money, Soto’s contract is even crazier than typical contract considering he is making more than 5x the salary of the average American citizen (according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
This deal is more than 75% of $1 billion, and with two of the top contracts in sports history being signed during back-to-back MLB offseasons, in Soto & Ohtani’s deal’s, this could lead up to a $1 billion contract. With these contracts already being very close to a billion dollars and contracts getting bigger every year, we could very easily see a $1B deal in the next decade. With all the great players in the league right now, most of them are locked up on big contacts, such as Soto, Ohtani, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Corey Seager, Bobby Witt Jr., & Ronald Acuna Jr. Since these players are locked up, they will most likely not get a 1B deal. However, a few young stars in the league who aren’t on big contracts could be on pace for a billion dollars in their contact. The most obvious of these players is Reds’ superstar, Elly De La Cruz.
Juan Soto’s new contract changes baseball in ways other than money too. This deal could be the start of a dynasty in Queens. The Mets made it all the way to the NLCS last year— without Soto and Steve Cohen is committed to winning. With Lindor— who is one of the best players in the league locked up until 2031 & many other great players that are on the Mets, plus some additions that Steve Cohen can add & their young prospects coming up to the big leagues, the Mets could very likely be one of the best teams in the league over the next 10 years.
This all goes to show that Juan Soto’s massive 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets is a lot more than just a free agent signing— it’s something that’s going to change baseball forever.
I don't know man. Do you think this contract is a good idea? I suppose it depends on how valuable you think roster spots are, because the Yankees have already exceeded Juan's WAR from last season with their additions, and those additions do not add up to $765M. Especially looking at Juan's fielding and baserunning numbers, which are going down and down and down, meaning he's going to have to spend most of this contract as a DH.
That's fine, but unless they're literally the best hitter in baseball, DHs do not win MVPs. They are not the best player on championship teams. You need a lot of support around a DH to win with one, or another star player that's even better. Think Manny Ramirez being the real star on the teams that David Ortiz gets credit for. With all this being known, do you think it's a good idea to give $700M and more to a DH? He won't be one immediately, but for most of the contract he will be, and to me it seems like a really big stretch to give that much money (and therefore commitment) to such a player.
I'm glad this race got too rich for my Blue Jays. This feels like a contract that has a high chance of killing what could've been a great era for the Mets, if even the slightest thing goes wrong. I don't think the loss of Soto will hurt the Yankees very much at all, and I think I'm going to believe the Red Sox being in on a big money player when I see it. They're not fooling anybody. This race was NY vs NY, and I'm not sure which side won it. The Mets got the best player, but the Yankees used their money to bring in more 2023 WAR.
I guess we'll see.
Congrats New York Mest!