Last year at around this time, Shohei Ohtani signed a lucrative contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which was the richest deal in North America sports history.....until today. Close to the day of Ohtani's deal one year ago, Juan Soto decided to have someone hold his beer and ante up.
It was announced that the New York Mets will hand Soto a contract that has broken baseball....
Fifteen years, $765 million!
This contract eclipses Shohei's deal by five years and $65 million. This also marks the second time that the most prized free agent stays in the same city, but with a different team. Daddy Cohen decided to open the infinity of vaults to get a once-in-a-generation player to help a franchise who hasn't reach the mountaintop of MLB in almost forty years.
If you're a Mets fan, this is huge. It's been almost 25 years since they tried to lure Alex Rodriguez to Queens. However, some perks stopped that from happening and A-Rod ended up in Texas. This is their A-Rod moment, signing one of the game's best players and not being left at the altar. I know, they did that with Francisco Lindor a few years ago, Also,......
If you're a Yankees fan, this has to be a buzzkill. Not only did Soto leave for your cross-town rivals, but your team gave up a lot to secure the services of him, for one year. As an added bonus, you also lost Clay Holmes to the Mets, ouch! If there is a silver lining, the Yankees could load up on pitching and depth with the money you could have used to pay Soto.
If you're a Dodgers fan, you feel nothing. Maybe you're upset because this contract overtook Shohei's deal. Other than that, LA wasn't getting Soto by any means.
If you're an Angels fan, you have fallen into the abyss. Arturo promised to spend big on the market but continue to "strike out." Maybe seeing Mike Trout stuck in a myriad of mediocrity has caused players to avoid Anaheim.
If you're a Blue Jays fan, you probably dodged a bullet. If by any way that Soto signed with Toronto, would the franchise have enough dough to pay Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette next year? This is a make-or-break campaign for them after suffering a setback in 2024.
If you're Vlad Jr., you are probably calculating the numbers in your head. If Shohei received $700 million and Soto got $765 million, then as the top free agent in next year's class, what is he going to receive?
If you are a baseball fan, you are probably cursing up a storm. This deal once again broke the system and will have an outcry for a salary cap. Will MLB listen to these cries? Probably not. Especially if the commissioner is thinking about putting gimmicks in the game instead of improving it.
(SIDE NOTE: The pitch clock is part of the reason why arm and shoulder injuries have increased. There, I said it.)
So, with this signing, are the Mets World Series contenders? The answer is no, not yet. The Dodgers signed other players to improve the team to help with their World Series triumph. Sure, Juan Soto and Clay Holmes helps, but adding more depth could come into play to push Queens' baseball's team to turn back the clock to 1986.
You are wondering if I'm going to lecture the Mets like I did with the Dodgers, Nah, nah, no need to, they already have a daddy named Steve Cohen. He should to that.
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