Mets land Juan Soto in historic free-agent agreement
Steve Cohen gets his white whale in his signature moment as the Mets owner
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
Inside the Mets negotiation to land Soto (Athletic)
Steve Cohen wasn’t going to let anything stop his high priced pursuit (New York Post)
Cohen takes boss title to Flushing by signing Soto (Newsday)
Soto’s deal transforms the sport and New York (ESPN)
Steve Cohen delivered on all the hopes and dreams the fans in Queens had when he bought the team (SNY)
Juan Soto’s contract details 💰
Soto received the longest contract in the history of baseball to-date at 15 years
Soto received the highest average annual value per season in the history of baseball to-date at $51 million
The total value of the contract at $765 million is the highest in the history of baseball to-date
$75 million signing bonus
Full no-trade clause
Soto received a player option after the fifth year of the deal (2031), but the Mets can void the option by adding $4 million to each of his salaries for the final ten years of the deal, raising his salary from $51 million to $55 million per year for 10 years from 2032-2041 - the total value of the 15 year contract could be worth $805 million if Soto exercises his opt out and he’s retained
No salary deferrals
Rumor Mill 💨
A Garrett Crochet trade is getting closer and could come together at the Winter Meetings (MLB Network)
The Mariners are willing to listen to offers for RHP Luis Castillo (Boston Globe)
Houston is aggressively shopping RHP Ryan Pressly (USA Today)
The Athletics are hopeful to reach a contract extension with Brent Rooker (MLB.com)
The Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox and Blue Jays could turn their attention towards a pursuit of Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernandez (MLB Network)
The Braves are willing to exceed the luxury tax in 2025 (Athletic)
The Giants are receiving a lot of interest on hard throwing RHP Camilo Doval (SF Chronicle)
The Reds are showing interest in trading for Lane Thomas and Josh Naylor (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Winter Meetings 🎺
The Winter Meetings are set to begin on today at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is scheduled to speak with the media at 5:40 p.m. ET tonight.
The MLB Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, December 10 at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be aired live on MLB Network.
The Mets are not in the draft lottery this year. They will have the 28th pick in the first round of the 2025 draft, which takes place in July during All-Star Week. Per MLB, the order of the postseason teams is determined by when they get eliminated and their revenue-sharing status. Those 12 teams will choose in the following order: Wild Card Series losers, Division Series losers, Championship Series losers, World Series loser, World Series winner. Within each of those groups, clubs will be sorted by revenue-sharing status, with payee clubs selecting before non-payee clubs. If two or more clubs have identical winning percentages in the immediately preceding championship season, the selection order of those clubs will be determined by winning percentage in the next prior championship season, with any remaining ties resolved by the tied clubs’ respective championship season winning percentages in each preceding year, until the tie is broken.
The Rule 5 draft will be held on Wednesday, December 11, at 2 p.m. ET. The Mets have the 21st pick in this draft, although they are not obligated to choose any of the available players. The Mets currently have 32 players on their 40-man roster, 33 if Clay Holmes is included, meaning there is some wiggle room for them to take a chance on a player. If the Mets do choose a player from the major league portion of the draft, they must pay the player’s former club $100,000 and carry that player on the active roster the entire season. If they don’t, they must then be waived. If the player clears waivers, they offer that player back to their former club for $50,000. The player can only be outrighted off the 40-man roster and sent to the minors if their former team declines to take the player back.
For more on this year’s Winter Meetings, check out MLB’s primer here.
Steve Cohen delivers his signature moment… ✍️
Since the day he first purchased the Mets from the Wilpon family, Steve Cohen vowed the team would be a different organization under his ownership.
And time and time again, he’s delivered on that promise.
‘Uncle Steve’ has had big moments already—he traded for and then signed superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor to a long-term deal, brought in former Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander on then record contracts, and off the field was able to land his preferred front office executive, David Stearns all while modernizing and transforming the organization from the inside out behind the scenes.
And while every one of those individual moves was incredibly impactful and impressive, they all pale in comparison to what Cohen pulled off late Sunday night.
After weeks of speculation, he finally landed his white whale, bringing future Hall-of-Famer Juan Soto to Queens.
Soto’s free agency has been written about daily, and talked about ad nauseam, but it simply cannot be understated that there has never been a comparable player freely available on the open market.
He’s a 26-year-old all-world superstar talent that is potentially just now entering his prime. He’s won a batting title, led the Majors in OBP twice, won five Silver Slugger awards, made four All-Star teams, and helped the Nationals win the 2019 World Series.
He’s a generational talent and arguably the best pure hitter in baseball.
Does he come with some flaws? Sure, he’s not a gifted defensive outfielder, lacks speed, and could profile as a DH later on.
Whatever.
None of that should take away from the fact that the best hitter in the game today, and one of the best offensive players in the history of the game, was available to be had for nothing but money, and Steve Cohen went out of his way to make sure he and the Mets would not be denied.
And what makes it even sweeter is who he was able to outbid.
Soto, of course, spent last season in the Bronx where he enjoyed a masterful campaign and helped lead the Bombers to the American League pennant. The Yankees surely envisioned deploying both Soto and Judge in the middle of their lineup for years to come.
There was, of course, a time where Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was the man who spent whatever was necessary to bring titles to the Bronx, and the ‘Boss’ is no doubt rolling in his grave at losing a player of Soto’s caliber to the Yankees crosstown rivals.
Soto leaving the Yankees to join the Mets is obviously meaningful on the field and in the present. But it also represents a catastrophic shift in the baseball climate in New York City.
Since the moment the Mets joined the National League as an expansion team in 1962, they have been viewed as the Yankees little brother. While fans in the Bronx were able to enjoy so much success, the Mets were largely lovable losers for much of their history.
But fresh off a surprise run to the NLCS, and with Soto now on board for the next decade and a half, it certainly feels like a new era of New York baseball is upon us.
And while the Mets and Yankees have always had a rivalry—both teams would readily admit they were more concerned with the teams in their own respective divisions.
But Soto trading boroughs may very well change that dynamic as well. Heading into 2025, both teams should be very, very good. Could you even imagine the storylines if we really did get a Subway Series next October?
But that’s a conversation for another day. In the meantime, I’d like every Mets fan reading this to take a moment to appreciate Steve Cohen and what he’s done for us all.
The best days are yet to come.
LFGM
Around the League 🚩
The Mets signed RHP Oliver Ortega to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training (MLB Network)
The Dodgers signed former Mets outfielder Michael Conforto to a one year deal (Feinsand)
The Dodgers are also in agreement on a two-year, $22 million contract to bring back RHP Blake Treinan (KPRC2)
Veteran catcher Austin Nola is joining the Rockies on a minor league deal (Feinsand)
The Classic Baseball Era Committee elected Dick Allen and Dave Parker to the Baseball Hall of Fame (MLB.com)
#LFGM. I view the contract as a 5-year deal, in reality. Am I wrong?