Superstar outfielder Juan Soto has reportedly agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. Straightaway, it’s the most lucrative free-agent contract in major U.S. sports history, and it has a number of player-friendly features like an opt-out, no deferred money, and a signing bonus. Once Soto’s Mets pact is fully contextualized, it’s far and away the most lucrative ever signed by a baseball player. That’s why he’s a Met.
As is the case with all such high-level player and team pairings, though, there are secondary considerations. In this instance, it may have been Soto’s possible desire to have a more collegial relationship with his team’s owner. The supposedly withdrawn Hal Steinbrenner of the Yankees may not have provided such a milieu for Soto, which is something he’d come to expect after spending so many years with the Nationals and then stopping over with the Padres. Mets owner Steve Cohen, may have been able to tap into those earlier experiences and current expectations of Soto’s. Will Sammon of The Athletic writes of Cohen’s “personal touch” in negotiations:
The Mets’ meeting with Soto in November, people briefed on the matter said, happened in California, at one of Cohen’s homes. That was different. All of Soto’s other meetings with different clubs were held at a hotel.
The personalized request from the Mets, league sources said, was Cohen’s wish. During the meeting, Cohen spoke about his background, his relationships and what has made him successful.
Soto’s get-together with the Mets shared commonalities from previous meetings with high-profile free agents, where pieces of Cohen’s personality poured out into the process.
In past meetings, according to people briefed on the discussions, Cohen told free agents that he views his ownership as a civic duty. He’s in it to win for the long haul, he says. He’s looking to do what it takes to build a perennial winner.
All of that presumably mattered to Soto, and it was no doubt part of the Mets’ charm offensive that wound up bringing Soto to Queens. That latter part, though – the part about Cohen’s commitment to building a sustained winner – probably resonated more than where the dinner was held. Well, that plus all the money. Whatever the hierarchy of priorities that allowed the Mets to land Soto, land him they did.
