Juan Soto contract with Mets breaks MLB record after Ohtani contract

Bryce Harper and Juan Soto shared an outfield for a year in 2018 before Harper fulfilled a destiny he foresaw as a teenager and signed the largest free agent contract in baseball history.

Soto, still a teenager, watched. And learned.

Although not as vocal as Harper, who did the honors Sports IllustratedWhen Soto appeared on the cover at age 16, Soto’s comparisons to him were striking. At 19, Soto also made his major league debut for the Washington Nationals and was an instant impact player, quickly drawing comparisons to players like Ted Williams and starting the countdown almost immediately upon his arrival.

To the point that he spent six years in the big leagues – and was able to offer his services to the highest bidder.

That process culminated Sunday night when Soto and the New York Mets agreed to a stunning 15-year, $765 million contract that makes Soto the highest-paid athlete in sports history.

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Yes, you read that right: $51 million a year, a byproduct of the limitless wealth that hedge fund king Steve Cohen brings in from his ownership of the Mets. Unlimited wealth has transformed the top of the market in Major League Baseball, and Cohen delivered a salvo on the East Coast to counter the wealth management warriors of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the West.

It’s tempting, in the wake of Soto’s earth-shattering deal, a year after two-way unicorn Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers, to gently tug on the beads and ponder:

When will it end?

Consider this: In February 2019, at a time when something resembling or embodying collusion was corroding the free agent market, the 26-year-old Harper set a free agent record by taking a 13- Signed an annual $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Less than six years later, Soto doubled that figure.

He also doubled the nine-year, $360 million contract Aaron Judge signed when he re-signed with the Yankees following his MVP season in 2022. Then came Ohtani’s heavily deferred deal, valued at $46 million by the players’ association because he will only receive $2 million upfront and the rest over the next few decades.

Soto exceeded that in every way: average annual value ($51 million), total value ($765 million), signing bonus ($75 million), deferred payments (zip code, zero, nothing).

If you’re a fan of Pittsburgh, Cleveland or Sacramento, or even upper-middle-class clubs in Texas or Atlanta, this is probably a little scary. People with Cohen’s wealth can collect boutique ballplayers as if they were rare works of art.

The Soto saga makes one of the more epic Onion headlines seem realistic – only this time it’s the Mets who are collecting literally every player in the major leagues, not the Yankees.

But here we put the brakes on.

Know this: Harper and Soto and Judge and Ohtani were truly one-of-ones at the time they hit the market. After the 2018 season, Harper and Manny Machado — who signed a $300 million contract with San Diego this winter — became the first players to hit free agency at age 26 since Alex Rodriguez in 2000.

Ah, remember A-Rod? His 10-year, $252 million contract with the Rangers also doubled the previous high for a free agent. Sure, the cost of poker went up – but the floodgates didn’t open.

In fact, the next player to sign a contract worth more than $200 million at the time was…A-Rod, as he backed out of his original contract and re-signed to the New York Yankees for $275 million.

Now comes Soto, traded from Washington when he turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract in 2022.

Turns out betting on yourself was a pretty good bet.

But Soto was also the first 26-year-old superstar to hit free agency since Harper and Machado. And he’s arguably the most attractive option – with a career OPS of .953, a 41-home run season in his platform campaign and a fairly clean health history.

So who is next? Now, with young players often opting for long-term financial security, there may not be such a generation-spanning free agent for the foreseeable future.

Ronald Acuña Jr. would have hit the free-agent market this winter as a 26-year-old had he not signed an eight-year, $100 million extension early in his career that could tie him to Atlanta through 2028.

Jackson Chourio made his major league debut just 18 days after turning 20^Th Birthday this year, showed every sign of being a five-player superstar for the Milwaukee Brewers – but has already signed an eight-year, $82 million contract that could tie him to Milwaukee through 2033, making him 30 years old could make him a free agent.

Bobby Witt Jr? The standout shortstop from Kansas City could have been a free agent at 27 – but signed an 11-year, $288 million contract. He can get out from 2031, but will then be 31 years old.

No, Soto is special – not just in his talent, but in his confidence, which shines through with every plate appearance and shines through in the most incredible moments – like his game-winning home run in this year’s American League Championship Series.

He was rightly rewarded, the gem that Cohen – the man who can buy anything – just had to have.

Records are meant to be broken, and one day Soto’s salary standard will be broken too, perhaps when some private equity boss who doesn’t even own a team has his eye on an irresistible talent who grew up in the… Dominican Republic or on the 9-year-old travel ball circuit in the USA.

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