DALLAS — It was 2000 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas when superstar shortstop Alex Rodriguez signed a massive 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers, becoming the highest-paid player in the history of professional sports, with his agent, Scott Boras, doing it.
Twenty-four years later, at the start of the winter meetings in the same Dallas hotel, history has repeated itself. This time, it’s Juan Soto who becomes the man of record, with Boras once again causing a stir in the sport after Soto agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets on Sunday. The deal surpasses Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million pact with the Dodgers as the largest contract in professional sports history.
The signing of Soto is a monumental victory for the Mets. Not only are they securing a generational talent for potentially the next 15 years (Soto has an opt-out after year five), but they are also continuing to build a future that looks very bright. After an appearance in the National League Championship Series in 2024, the Mets add the 26-year-old superstar to a lineup that includes another superstar in shortstop Francisco Lindor and rising young talents in Mark Vientos and Francisco Álvarez. This is exactly the step a team that was on the verge of the World Series should take to move to the next level.
No sports team has ever made this type of commitment to a player. Not only is the reported deal larger than Ohtani’s, but Soto will have both the highest average annual value ($51 million) and the highest total value ($765 million) in baseball history if the deal goes through. .
The details could be even more mind-blowing.
The $75 million signing bonus Soto will receive is larger than Luis Severino’s entire three-year contract with the A’s, which, by the way, was the largest contract in franchise history. There is reportedly no deferred money in Soto’s deal, and if he opts for the fifth year, the 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 former Mets ownership. A big reason Soto’s mega deal hit the $765 million threshold is the bidding war between Cohen and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner. After years of the Yankees having the team and ownership group bullying other teams into submission, the Mets owner did just that by taking the former Yankees star and entrenching him in Queens.
If Soto had signed with the Dodgers, Phillies, Blue Jays, or even the Red Sox, his signing wouldn’t have seemed like as big a deal as this one. Soto putting his talent on the 7 train for what was supposedly only $5 million more than the Yankees’ best offer makes this move look like a steal.
When Cohen bought the Mets in 2020, this was the outcome other team owners in baseball feared. It was only a matter of time until the 97th richest man in the world and the sport’s richest owner by far decided he wouldn’t be denied. And now, with the Mets taking Soto away from their crosstown rivals, power in New York shifts to Queens. Cohen not only convinced Soto that being a Met is a better option than being a Yankee, but he also signaled to everyone in the sport that their 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 might do that they set new tax thresholds on the competitive balance tax (CBT), known as the “Cohen Tax,” to penalize spending to ridiculous levels. This deal makes a mockery of that tax and the owners who have been afraid to use their wealth to improve their teams.
And let’s be clear: Soto’s $765 million deal is simply 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 in one player undoubtedly has its eyes on much more, and rightly so. If you want to make this deal worth it in the long run, you better win.
Don’t be mistaken. This is a historic day for the Mets. It’s also a signal to the rest of the sport that, like it or not, there’s a new sheriff in town.