O/T - Juan Soto - 15 years/$765M with the Mets
 

Wow

Wow indeed. That's more total money than Shohei, and Soto can't pitch. I wonder if any of Soto's money is deferred, like Shohei's.

Who had Mets in their pool???

Yikes!!

None of it is deferred. I believe he will be worth the money!

He's not worth that much. The Mets can have him if he's going to be a greedy dick.



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Mets were regarded as the most likely landing spot over the past couple weeks

I enjoyed watching him and Judge play together against my team (Jays). Soto is the reason they went to the WS. I'm surprised the Yanks let him get away. Now they're screwed.

I can't stand the guy and his antics. As a Dodger fan, I was super glad they didn't get him. I do wish he would have stayed in the American League though.

Someone did the math and said he would make 65k per inning. Is that even possibly true?

[emoji28] Glad he wont be wearing Dodger blue !


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Makes Ohtani, who is a much better player, look cheap

Contract goes over $800 million with escalators.

As a Mets fan, I'm ambivalent. He's an asset in the batting order, but I'm not convinced he's the guy who brings us our next championship.

I'm envious of the Dodgers. When you can bring in a guy like Ohtani who clearly wants most to win rings, it's great for the franchise.

Juan is a great player. But I just don't see him as a big draw like Ohtani and Judge. Purely as a spectator I'd much rather see the other two play. He's at the really good level, the other two seem to be at the inhuman level. I would've expected something more in the range of 300-500m. But good for him.

Two things here that most people don't think about. By the time the deal is over, $55M per year might not look that bad. Go back 15 years to the big deals and they look small in comparison now. His final years probably won't stand out as much.

The other thing is that I hate seeing these deals. I already can't afford to go to games, nor would I pay the prices if I could. The quality of play in baseball is awful now in my opinion. I can't tolerate nine innings of strikeouts and solo homers most nights. So they aren't losing me by raising prices, but you know this contract will have a domino effect. Everyone will cost more now, which will be paid by the fans, not the owners going into debt.

As a side note I was just talking to a relative about this subject earlier today. I noticed how few photos I saw of relatives at games this year on Facebook. I have a large family with many baseball fans who used to go to games. I mean I probably saw 100 games total each year between various cousins and such. Now I go to none. My dad goes to none. We went with cousins to games for years and they don't go. I think I saw photos from no more than five games this year. I checked some family pages and saw just two games. My brother used to do 20 games a year. He went to three this year and two were gifts. The other one was a playoff game.

I know MLB claims higher attendances the last two years, even though that is tickets sold/comped and not actual fans in the seats, but I dread where stadium prices are going in the very near future for people. I don't get the appeal to leave the house, while investing the extra time, once it reaches a certain price. You could buy a great TV, saves thousands and thousands and watch from home with surround sound and all the snacks you want at a fraction of the cost.

These free agent deals this year are scary for the sport's future.

I agree Ohtani is the better player, but Soto is only 26, and Ohtani is 30.

Not that Soto’s age justifies a contract of over $700 million though.

Soto was never my favorite player, but as a Mets fan, I hope he gels with the team and helps them win a championship, even if it will be somewhat cheapened by the fact that they are outspending everyone else in what seems a somewhat reckless way.

Would have liked Soto to remain a Yankee, but not for that kind of money for one player. I would rather they invest that kind of money in multiple players. Heck, Yankees couldn't even win a World Series with Judge and Soto.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out for the Mets.

The only contract I remember that worked out in the mega deal era is A-rod’s original mega deal. Soto is in the same general age range and I expect he will be well worth the money.

But Soto will be 42 when the contract ends
so will he still be that productive in his 40's to justify $55 million a year?

A-Rod won 3 MVPs during his mega deal with the Rangers. Would you consider that money well spent?

I stopped trying to make sense of the economics of baseball a long time ago. If they’re not a case study in what’s wrong with America, I don’t know what is.

Harper signed his mega deal with the Phillies at age 26. The first year of his deal the Phillies finished 500. In 2021 he won an MVP, in 2022 the Phillies went to the World Series, in 2023 the Phillies went to the Championship Series and in 2024 the Phillies were back in the postseason again.

Harper has won an MVP, a NLCS MVP, and won 3 Silver Slugger awards in the first five seasons of his deal.

Is he worth the money?

I hope he gets deported.

He'll be 40 at contract's end. He'll be worth $55M/year at the beginning of his contract, and if inflation keeps pace with his declining ability, he'll be worth it at the end.

I'm in the same boat - when he comes to bat and does his gig I almost want to change the channel. Great hitter - Yes, but he is just not my cup of tea. While with the Padres I always thought what a difference between him and Tony Gwynn.

He got his money, but now unfortunately he won't be the only player in history to play for every baseball team in the major leagues!

So if I have this right, Juan Soto will make $785M in 15 years Elon Musk will make appx. $9 billion in December 2024.

I'm done with baseball. This is outrageous.

Juan Soto JUST turned 26, has no discernible injury history, is a power hitter who Walks more then he strikes out (who else in this day and age does that?) and even though he's already been on 3 teams and may have had some bouts of immaturity in the past, seems like a steady clubhouse presence, who pretty much stays out of the limelight and minds his own business.

He's predictable, he's not streaky. Check out his career splits. He's the same home or away, and he's the same from month to month to month, throughout the season.

He's a professor of hitting and never-changing. He's the closest thing, to a sure thing in baseball, and still very young. That's why teams were foaming at the mouth to wrap him up for a long time.

and....and....and.......he's been great in the postseason.

No, he's not the marketing powerhouse that Ohtani is...and I'm not sure why fans would care if he is or not. He hits the ball hard, and he gets on base.

No, he's not a 5 tool guy like Mike Trout either. He's steady and predictable and AVAILABLE about what exactly he can give to a team in the long term, and front offices and team owners will love that about him.

He's the perfect storm. He's the closest we have to a modern day 26 year-old Ted Williams. No, Ted never won a title either, but you'd sure love to see if he might get you there in the right situation.

Now, all that said. He DID sign with the Mets. So there's just as good of a chance that within 2 years he tears a labrum, fractures many metacarpals, falls in the shower, or just so happens to run into the tallest pile of cocaine that anybody has ever seen and things just go downhill from there. :)

He would be a sure fire HOF as a Yankee. Bad move.

He'd be a sure-fire HOFer if he signed with the Rockies. His team has nothing to do with his HOF chances.

Are you sure? I heard from reliable sources Zager and Evans the he signed a Bobby Bonilla deal and will be receving payments through 2525:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQB2-Kmiic :rolleyes:

Wish the Yanks would have been able to keep him. He certainly made things easier for Judge, but the line had to be drawn somewhere.

I think Scott Boras had more of a say in where Juan Soto was going, then Juan Soto did. I don't think Soto really cared where he ended up.

Soto is like a little kid with his celebrations. He's an incredible talent, but you'd figure he'd come to understand that there's a time to celebrate. One example is his team was down 6-1 and he was celebrating hitting a double (nobody on base). There was a picture in the paper showing Soto celebrating. In the picture, the second baseman was looking at him and the look in the second baseman's eyes said "why are you celebrating, your team is down by 5 runs".


It looks like MLB team ownership (and probably other sports leagues) are taking a page from the US government economic playbook when it comes to mortgaging the future in order to pay today's insane salaries and deferred payments.

Soto is a great player, but he also was hitting in front of Aaron Judge. He's not going to have that protection on the Mets, plus the pressure of a big salary. When he went to the Padres, he struggled with those expectations. He will have Lindor to take some of the pressure off, but I'm surprised that he made the move considering the Yanks and Mets were offering nearly the same terms

I know you can't replace a Soto but I also think everyone in New York has forgotten about The Martian. He is very good and we haven't seen him unleashed yet either.

As a Mets fan I admit that this is a strong possibility.

Very good hitter. His fielding is a liability and cost the Yankees games. He grew on me throughout the season as being a robin to Judges Batman. With that said that's way to much money for what he brings to a team. Ohtanis contract opened the door to these long player friendly deals.

Yankee hype know no bounds. Hit .179 last year in 56 ABs.

Have been hearing about this guy's alleged potential for a long time.

Maybe because he had Tommy John surgery? He is 21 years old. He was the number 16 prospect per Baseball America and hit over 300 in his abbreviated minor league season.

Let's not forget that because he is now a Met, he could get attacked by a wild boar
, lose a finger during a hedge clipping incident, be in a cab that gets sideswiped by a drunk driver, or badly injure himself while celebrating.

When will we have the first $billion dollar player? We are 3/4 of the way there.

Did he get an AB in the post season?

I'm with you Steve. But I've been done with baseball for a long time. I did go to game at Yankee Stadium last year. But that's it. I don't watch it. And I have zero interest in going to the stupid baseball country club in Cooperstown. Sooner or later the whole thing will come crashing down.

I mean, just the possibility of adding to that lore, is certainly worth $765 Million bucks.

Maybe there are a bunch of extra incentives in Soto's contract, but Ohtani is getting $700M over 10 years ($70M a year) and Soto is getting $765M over 15 years ($51M a year). Isn't Ohtani still the highest paid player in baseball on a yearly basis?

He's the Zion Williamson of baseball. (but actually has done even less)

He has the same amounts of postseason runs scored as Mickey Mantle did through one abbreviated season.

He is 21 years old. He had Tommy John at the end of 2023. What are you guys talking about? He was just signed in 2021 as an 18 year old.

Almost all deferred
 

Ohtani does not get his money today... he gets it at the end of the deal, so on a Net present value is is a little more than $400 million from what I recall.

He's such a special talent that they used him in the post season . . .as a pinch runner? Just very odd.

He will be 40 during the final season. He turned 26 about a month ago, so he will be 26 for all of the first season.

As for the deal being good in 2039, that's not what I was trying to get at. I meant that by the end it won't look like such a crazy deal in comparison to 2039 free agent costs.

Albert Pujols signed with the Angels 12 years ago for ten years, $240M. If Pujols was in the same exact spot in his career/age looking for a ten year deal today, it would be about $500M, yet when he signed back in 2012, it seemed like a lot of money. Add another three years distance for the Soto comparison. Who knows what his 15-year deal would look like during the 2039-40 off-season if he was in the same spot.

Boone also decided to insert Nestor Cortes into a game after he hadn't pitched for a month. I'm not sure one thing says anything about another.

Just for fun I looked at the other international prospects signed the same year Dominguez was, especially since it's been suggested he isn't the talent he was meant to be:

Dominguez was the number 2 international prospect the year the Yankees signed him:

1. Yoelqui Cespedes - currently in independent ball
2. Dominguez - major league player expected to be starting outfielder in 2025
3. Robert Puason - same age but yet to advance beyond A ball
4. Pedro Leon - 26 years old and played 7 games last season at the MLB level
5. Norge Vera - 24 years old and in A ball
6. Bayron Lora - killed somebody while driving and out of baseball
7. Luis Rodriguez - same age as Dominguez but yet to play above A ball
8. Erick Pena - same age as Dominguez but yet to play above A ball
9. Ronnier Quintero - 22 years old and out of baseball
10. Yiddi Cappe - same age as Dominguez but yet to play above A ball

I would say the Yankees signed the best player.

Been thinking about this rant for quite a while. Now that Soto is the latest to walk for a colossal contract, now it seems appropriate. Couple of things:

Perhaps Soto should have consulted with Cano, another who walked away from being the toast of the Big Apple. Sure he got a lot of money. Didn't win any World Series rings in Seattle though. But if all you care about is money, who cares?

The Yankees have 27 World Series championships, and yes, the last one was quite a few years ago now. But the thing is, none of these wannabe pretenders is going to catch the Yankees in my lifetime. And maybe if The Boss was still running the Yankees' show, things would be different. Maybe Soto would still be a Yankee. Who knows? And maybe I will eat these words, but I seriously doubt the Mets will win a World Series anytime soon. They just dropped a realistic chance to buy a World Series with Soto's contract. Who can they afford to bring in around him? They already have to have a sponsor name for their ballpark.

As Packs said, I think that says more about Boone than Dominguez. Dominguez should have been in the starting line-up in the postseason rather than the pitiful Verdugo - Dominguez has looked good in the majors overall and he did very well in AAA this year. But Boone for whatever reason decided he'd stay loyal to Verdugo and keep Dominguez on the bench to the bitter end.

Dominguez won't make anyone forget about Mickey Mantle, but I think he'll be good.

If my math isn't horribly off ....
 

$805 million for 15 years.

That's $53,666,666.70 a year.

In a 162 game season, that is $331, 275.72 a game.

If each game lasts two-and-a-half hours, that is $132,510.28 an hour.

Granted, there is pre-season, post season, etc., and I'm sure incentive clauses for MVP, Gold Glove, etc. But still, that is a great hourly salary.

Don't hate the player. if some owner wanted to pay you that kind of cash you'd be a fool and say no thanks..

Also a Mets fan. Reckless? Steve cohen made $8bn since he bought the Mets at least. The Dodgers added Snell to that team already. The Yankees made the WS with the help of Stanton, who they overpaid and mothballed until he could contribute after many injuries. Those two made the WS. What do the Mets do, let them get all of the top players and wait five years to build the farm system better? They will do that too, and be competitive for years to come. They have been outspent for decades while having poor ownership. It’s their time. Let’s see if it helps!

Juan Soto needs to be sent down to AAA now to sharpen his game. His batting averages of .275 and .288 in the last two years tell me he's not hitting the ball where it's pitched. And his stolen base totals of only 12 and then 7 indicate he lacks hustle.

:(

So your pitch to Soto would have been "sign with us because before you were born we won 24 championships"?

Or, if the press reports are correct, "Don't sign with the Mets for 15 years, sign with us for 16, because 16 years ago we won a title."

It is kind of odd that he signed with the Mets when the Yankees offered basically the same deal. He was just in the WS with the Yankees and has Judge hitting behind him.

Apparently there were some subtle differences that made the Mets deal worth somewhat more even though the numbers appear to be very close.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/y...ted-than-that/

I read that the Mets would allow Soto to have his family in the clubhouse that seemed to be important to him.

My pitch would be/is nobody anywhere is worth that ridiculous amount of money. So if you sign with the Mets, who have been desperately trying to equal the Yankees in New York throughout their entire existence, great. They won't be able to put a team around you, because sooner or later, they can't afford to. Just one indication of that is corporate sponsorship for the name of the ballpark. I don't see the Yankees perspiring over him walking. I believe the Yankees are better off without yet another albatross (Stanton's insane contract). They claim they have a backup plan. We'll see.

That is $51,000,000 per year average. If he plays 14 more years and we do some quick math and triple his current stats we come up with:

603 HR
2802 Hits
.285 BA
3 WS wins
3 batting titles

He will maintain the pace through the age of 40. I’m guessing not 1 of those stats comes to fruition. Since it’s memorialized here it will be fun to check back in 14 years.

I'm pretty sure the Citi Field naming rights were in place before the current ownership bought the team. Also, Steve Cohen is worth over $20 billion so I think he'll be ok even if he has to spend more to fill out the team around Soto.

Hopefully Sasaki is next. Let's Go Mets!

+1

Free agent contracts have nothing to do with ticket prices, unless and only to the extent that signing a free agent increases demand for tickets. Teams are already charging whatever price for tickets that they figure is going to maximize revenue. Unless people are going to be willing to pay higher prices so that they can see Soto (which they might!), the Mets aren't going to be able to raise prices. And if people are willing to pay higher prices because they're excited about their team, that's not a sign of an unhealthy sport at all. Quite the opposite.

Will Soto be "worth" this contract, is really two questions. There's an economic question about whether the increased revenue that the team gets from having him (which could come from higher ticket prices if folks are willing to pay more to see him, or from extra sponsorship deals, or from post-season appearances they wouldn't have made otherwise, or larger cable deals or whatever) will more than make up for what he's getting paid. And there's also a question particular to the guy who is going to be writing Soto's paychecks. Is Steve Cohen going to be happy about it? The former question is difficult to answer, I'm not going to even try to predict baseball finances 15 years out. As for the latter question though: Cohen has more money than God. Like, nearly an order of magnitude more than some of the other baseball owners. He's not just rich, and he's rich by the standards of guys who own sports teams. And he has apparently decided that the Mets are his new favorite toy (see, for example, the Verlander and Scherzer signings) and doesn't mind spending money on it. We buy cardboard rectangles with pictures of baseball players on them. He buys baseball players. Whether this deal will be worth it to him is more a question about how much he enjoys his hobby than it is about how much (if any) money he's going to make on this deal.

Soto is closing in on 40 WAR at age 26 that's pretty extraordinary.

It would blow your mind if you knew how high the percentages of MLB players don't care that much about winning WS rings. It would blow it more if you knew how many don't even really like playing baseball. Its a job to a lot of them them .Nothing more nothing less. There are they to make money and make the most they possible can. Don't blame Soto blame the teams.

You obviously dont know anything about Steve Cohen.

No I don't. And more importantly, I don't care. All I know for sure is I hope it blows up in his face.

What would make the contract worth the money?

A-Rod won 3 MVPS during his initial deal, then won a World Series with the Yankees after opting out. He was not great after signing with the Yankees but I would say most teams would accept the title and everyone was happy with his 3 MVPs during the original phase.

Harper has won an MVP and taken the Phillies to the World Series since he signed his deal.

Ohtani won an MVP and the Dodgers won the World Series in the first year of his deal.

What makes a mega deal worth it?

Why do you want it to fail? Just about every owner in baseball is a billionaire and all their teams are worth at least $2 billion probably. Many teams could afford Soto but many teams choose not to have big payrolls. If you're a fan of a team, don't you want your team's owner to spend whatever it takes to win? it's not like it's our money that's being spent. The Mets aren't my team but I applaud Cohen for acting like a fan.

Why so hostile? It's just sports.

I don't think you can look at any of these mega deals as something that will have gained or evened out value.

When you're paying a premium for what's been done in the past you're generally overpaying from the outset as well as through an age that's past most every athlete's peak.

Gotta spend the money on something.

15 years from now that 51m will still be substantial, but it probably won't be mind-blowing...though it will be for someone's Soto's age.

15 years ago there were 4 guys with 20m+ contracts... Arod (33m), Manny Ramirez (23.8m), Jeter (21.6m), and Mark Teixeira (20.6m).

A few days ago M.Conforto got 17m and W.Adames got 26m average yearly contracts.

Sure, but I'm just talking about decade long mega deals and not an expensive rental free agent.

What would have to happen for you to feel like a mega deal was worth it? If the player wins an MVP in your uniform, is that worth it? If the team wins a championship? Makes several World Series appearances but maybe doesn't win a title?

Steve Cohen collects only graded cards, by the way.

That's hilarious :) That made my day! :D

Well, Steve isnt just about spending money, which he does when he has to. He is about building a great organization, a farm system, and building a consistent winner. Given the bidding here, if the Mets dont spend that, another team spends almost that amount and has the player, and the Mets have to beat them. So he did what he thought was best. He can afford it. If it doesn’t work out he will try something else. It wont blow up in his face, so find another crusade. Drop the anger, it’s not worth it.

Only if you assign any degree of credibility to this newly hatched WAR stat.

:rolleyes:

Incidentally, will the Mets still be on the hook for roughly $51 million per year if they cut Soto or send him down to the minors?

:confused: