DALLAS, TX — From the Bronx to Queens.
The Dominican superstar and former New York Yankee, Juan Soto, a 2021 NL LatinoMVP award winner, stunned the baseball world on Sunday night, by going across town and agreeing to a lucrative deal with the New York Mets.
The 15-year/$765 million mega-contract for the 26-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder was broken by ESPN reporter Jeff Passan and New York Post reporter Jon Heyman simultaneously.
The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native, Juan Soto, made for massive headlines all over the weekend with his free agency sweepstakes concluding on Sunday night – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
The Yankees were close to getting a deal done but ultimately, there was no cigar at 16 years for $760 million total. This contract by the Mets is the largest contract in professional sports history, surpassing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal from a year ago with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The AAV for the whole contract is $51 million, while the Yankees final offer came out to around $47.5M per year. There are also incentives in the deal that can take it to $800M or more — ESPN reporter Jorge Castillo and MLB insider Mark Feinsand were on those details.
Castillo reported that there was an opt out after the fifth year in 2029. If Soto doesn’t opt out, he’ll receive a $4 million pay raise to bump his AAV to an astounding $55 million per year.
Feinsand reported that the signing bonus of $75 million bumps his earnings to $305 million during the first five years of the deal. His AAV for those five years would be $61 million.
Francisco Lindor’s latest Instagram post from his story following the Juan Soto news – Image Credit: Instagram (@lindor12bc)
For the Mets — this is a home run in the short term but can age poorly due to Soto’s questionable defense. Not to mention, Citi Field is also a much more difficult outfield to navigate than Yankee Stadium.
Regardless, his pairing in Queens with Puerto Rican shortstop Francisco Lindor gives the Mets the best Latino duo in MLB. Soto is a game changer in that lineup and being backed up by Mark Vientos, will also give the Mets a strong top three. The Mets are now in a much better position to avenge their NLCS loss to the Dodgers, but they still have work to do.
On the other hand, this is a disaster for the Yankees, giving up five players in a trade with San Diego for a year that didn’t result in a World Series victory.
During his one and only season as a Yankee, Juan Soto finished third in the 2024 AL MVP voting with Aaron Judge winning the award – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
The Bronx Bombers will now have to get busy with their plan B, which may include a signing of Corbin Burnes or Max Fried on the pitching end and multiple moves for the lineup such as third baseman Alex Bregman, first baseman Christian Walker and more.
Below is the reaction of several reporters and industry figures to the news.
“As a baseball fan, I thought holy crap, that’s a lot of money for a lot of years. My second reaction was I got to get to work and I did,” – Tim Healey, Mets beat reporter for Newsday
“It’s a monumental deal for Soto, the Mets, baseball, and pro sports’” Healey added. “It’s a mind-boggling paradigm shifting thing.”
The Yankees will resort to alternative options after falling short in the Juan Soto free agency sweepstakes – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
“It’s absolutely awful for the Yankees. It’s a complete disaster and I don’t even know what they do now. Any plan B they can come up with is not better than Soto. No matter what they do, Yankee fans won’t feel any better.” – Chris Kirschner, Yankees beat reporter for the Athletic
“Everything is on the table now that Soto is gone and they could literally sign anyone,” – Brendan Kuty, Yankees beat reporter for NJ.com
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