Most major free agency sweepstakes across major sports leagues come down to the almighty dollar. Juan Soto’s availability this winter is no exception.
The 26-year-old superstar right fielder is Major League Baseball’s hottest commodity on the market. With his agent Scott Boras — known for getting the top dollar for his clients — the competition for Soto’s signature is more likely than not going to be a bidding war.
Should one team offer a few dollars more over another and offer even a glimmer of competitive baseball, that is where Soto will sign. That is a safe assumption that has been hammered home by MLB insiders alike, most recently Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, who said that the four-time All-Star “almost certainly will go for the best offer.”
No team can offer Soto more money than the New York Mets should they deem his services an absolute necessity. With roughly $100 million coming off their books this winter, owner Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns can go all out on a contract that could range anywhere between $600 million and $700 million over 12 or 13 years.
There will be heavy competition, of course. The Yankees will do all they can to retain Soto. They had a meeting with him scheduled for Monday. The Toronto Blue Jays will also be in the mix, and the Boston Red Sox had a meeting with him, too.
But Cohen and the deep-pocketed Mets are understandably at the forefront of this whole thing.
“I know they want to win. They’re in a large market with us,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said of Cohen and the Mets. “They had a taste of success this year, and they want to move the needle even more forward. The best way to do that is to import quality players to what you already have. That’s what we, they, and anybody interested in winning and being the last team standing is all about… I think that’s just the nature of the beast.”
While the Yankees used to flash the major cash to bring in the hottest names, times have changed. Hal Steinbrenner appears to be more frugal in hopes of lowering his team’s payroll, and Cohen’s net worth is roughly four times more than the family running the Bronx Bombers.
In fact, his net worth of $16 billion is $4.5 billion more than that of MLB’s second-richest owner, Edward Rogers of the Blue Jays. That certainly bodes well for the Mets if this whole thing does come down to the dollars and cents.
