QUEENS, NY: The Baseball world was stunned last night as The New York Post's Jon Heyman reported that the Mets had agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with free agent sensation Juan Soto, capping offseason's biggest story.
According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, there are no deferred payments in the deal, and there are escalators that may increase the contract's value to above $800 million.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Soto's contract has an opt-out clause after the 2029 season, while Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic says that the deal includes a $75 million signing bonus.
It's the biggest contract in professional sports history, surpassing both the $700MM sticker price Shohei Ohtani agreed before deferrals broke the record and the $461MM net present value of the deal he inked with the Dodgers last winter.
The MLB player record, formerly held by Ohtani, is also greatly surpassed by Soto's $51MM average annual value. According to Heyman, the Yankees' final offer for the slugger totaled $760 million over 16 years, indicating that the Mets weren't the only team prepared to go to unprecedented measures to acquire him. Meanwhile, according to Sean McAdam of MassLive, the Red Sox made Soto an offer of $700MM spread over 15 years.
Soto is a generational talent that has been a star since making his Major League debut just seven seasons ago. After turning down a deal over $400MM from the Nationals, he now secured that plus some. Soto and the Mets will now look to secure their first World Series championship as one.
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