NEW YORK — Juan Soto seemed to approach his introductory press conference with the Mets much the same way he sets up at the plate for his at-bats. Sitting at a long table on a raised stage in the jam-packed Piazza club at Citi Field, he clamped his teeth down on his bottom lip and nodded his head up and down. It was the same expression we’d seen him make in the batter’s box, except this time, instead of staring down the pitcher, he was facing his future.
Soto was his usual picture of confidence as he exchanged his navy blue blazer for a white No. 22 New York Mets jersey that he wore over his black turtleneck sweater. Mets owner Steve Cohen, who looked both exhausted and relieved after the rollercoaster of emotions of the past week, extended his hand to Soto and officially started their 15-year, $765 million partnership. What’s step one? Build a dynasty in Queens so that the Mets become one of the premiere elite teams in baseball.
“Definitely that was one of the things that opened my eyes more,” Soto said on Thursday at Citi Field. “How hungry they are to win a championship, and to want to make a dynasty with the New York Mets.”
Let’s dive into three takeaways from a special day in Mets franchise history.
What made the Mets stand out to Soto?
Being the recipient of the largest contract in professional sports history was the elephant in the room, but besides the obvious, the two words that Soto most mentioned throughout his first big day as a Met were winning and family.
While Soto was still deciding where he would spend his future, he asked Cohen during their second meeting this offseason how many championships the Mets owner would like to win over the next 10 years. Cohen answered: “I’d like to win two to four.” That ambitious response resonated with Soto’s long-term goal, and it ultimately became a separator for the slugger as he mulled over bids from five teams (the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Blue Jays). Late Sunday night, Soto decided the Mets gave him the best chance to win a World Series.
You might think his resolute determination to win puts pressure on the Mets organization, but Soto actually shares that hunger with Cohen. If anyone is heightening the pressure to win championships and morph the Mets into perennial winners, it’s the billionaire hedge-fund manager and lifetime Mets fan who bought the franchise for fun, as a hobby on the side, in Nov. 2020. The Mets’ presentation highlighted Cohen’s deep-rooted desire to bring sustained success to Queens.
“I wanted to get a point across to him that we’re good people, that we care, that we want to win a championship, that I’m always successful,” Cohen said. “If he ever wants to sit down and talk to me — I was saying that in a town hall for my hedge fund today. I have 3,200 employees, my door is always open. And most people don’t take advantage of it because I’m the boss and nobody wants to talk to the boss. But that’s how I operate. I operate that way with Juan Soto, and I operate that way with a junior analyst at my hedge fund.”
To demonstrate the importance of mi casa es su casa, Cohen held the California meeting with Soto in his $35 million Beverly Hills mansion. Cohen joked that he invited Soto over because “the food’s better at my house,” but it was just another detail that separated the Mets from the other four teams. Another distinction was the presence of Cohen’s 93-year-old father-in-law, Ralph Garcia, at the meeting. Cohen’s wife, Alex, grew up in Washington Heights watching the Mets with her dad, who goes to every home game these days, and he attended the Soto meeting to tell him how much he wanted to see the slugger play in orange and blue threads.
The Cohen family’s openness and promised ongoing availability mattered a great deal to Soto. It made him and his family feel comfortable, and for a 26-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic who spends his free time with his family, that feeling of security loomed large over his decision-making process. But Soto’s favorite part about the Mets’ presentation was a video where, at the end of it, they showed a statue of Soto erected next to the statue of Tom Seaver that currently sits outside of Citi Field. Talk about acing the test.
“It’s been in a Mets town for a long time, so I think we just gotta bring it to the top,” Soto said. “Definitely, championships are going to tell you whether it’s the Yankees or a Mets town at the end of the day.”
How did the Yankees fall short?
We know the Yankees didn’t offer as much money as the Mets did, but they weren’t that far off from the final number. The Mets’ offer of $765 million is only $5 million better, in terms of total guaranteed value, than the Yankees’ offer of $760 million. His signing bonus in Queens is $15 million more than where the Yankees stopped. His agreed-upon $51 million annual average value is $3.5 million more than what it could’ve been with the Yankees. These are not outrageous differences, but to the youngest and most talented free agent to hit the market since Alex Rodriguez in 2000, the details clearly mattered.
“I feel like they did everything that they had in their power to help me out, to bring me back,” Soto said of the Yankees. “But I had four other teams doing the same thing and trying to make me feel comfortable. And at the end of the day we look at everything, we look at the chances and we look at what other teams wanted to do, and what everybody wants to do for the next 15 years, and I think we have the best chances over here.”
“Look, the New York Yankees in this negotiation stepped up. They did,” Boras said. “They really, really made themselves known in this process and the Soto family and everyone has the highest regard. It was really about internally what they felt was best long-term.”
[RELATED: Three moves the Yankees must make after losing Juan Soto]
Soto addressed the topic of the paid suite he requested for his family at the ballpark, and how he appreciated that Cohen was willing to include it. The Yankees, according to reports, did not sign off on a paid suite for Soto at Yankee Stadium. Cohen simply said he had heard from Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, that the slugger wanted a suite as part of the deal, so the Mets included it right from the beginning.
“He made a request, I was happy to provide it,” Cohen said.
Soto described his year with the Yankees as “the best time,” but he also said he hasn’t spoken to any of his former Bronx teammates since they lost the World Series to the Dodgers. He thanked Yankees fans for showing him love this past year, but that’s hardly going to minimize the barrage of boos that will be sent his way when the Subway Series goes to 161st Street on May 16. Of course, he understood that when he picked the two-time championship Mets over the 27-time championship Yankees. But 29 fanbases were always going to be irritated by his final decision. Soto was ready for that.
Ultimately, he was more impressed by the Mets’ hot pursuit. The formal presentation to land Soto began in earnest in August, when Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns typically begins his offseason preparation, but the groundwork was laid long before that. Stearns said acquiring Soto was on his radar, dating as far back as October 2023, when Cohen named him the first POBO in Mets franchise history. Cohen’s desire to make Soto a Met was discussed in his initial meeting with Stearns last year.
“We did know that if he was going to be a free agent,” Stearns said, “We were going to make a very strong push.”
What is Soto going to do with all the money?
The generational star expected a big pay day for a long time — that much was evident when he reportedly rejected a 15-year, $440 million extension with the Nationals in 2021. But, even so, no one was prepared for Soto to break Shohei Ohtani’s record for the biggest contract in sports by a whopping $305 million.
Soto had a lot of time to think about what he would do with his money before he finally accepted the Mets’ contract this week. His thoughtful answer based on paying it forward provided insight into the values that Soto most cares about.
“The first thing that came to mind was, I’m going to try to help a lot of people back in D.R.,” Soto said. “I know that there are a lot of kids that have talent and they can have a bright future, but they don’t have the support to do it. And I feel like when you sign a contract like that, that’s the first thing it brings to my mind, to help the community and try to help everybody around my country – and try to create more chances, more opportunities for the people to grow and keep moving forward.
“You never know who’s going to be the next Juan Soto, who’s going to be the next Ohtani, the next Bryce Harper, or who’s going to be the next Scott Boras, who’s going to be the next Steve Cohen. I want to give them that little hope. I feel like that’s one of the biggest things. Just give them hope so they can keep moving forward.”
[RELATED: $1 million per homer? $27,000 a point? Sports is loaded with money oddities]
It’s not just the Dominican Republic that Soto is supporting. He lifted the Mets’ long-beleaguered fanbase the second he announced his decision to play at Citi Field for what could be the rest of his career. Sit tight, Mets fans. Only a few more months until April 4, when you can give Soto your love in the most anticipated Mets home opener to date.
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
Juan Soto
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
