Inside The Mets

Mets Almost Lost Out on Juan Soto With This Initial Contract Offer

The New York Mets nearly didn't make it past the first round of Juan Soto bidding after this contract offer.

Grant Young

Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto puts on a Mets cap during his introductory press conference at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto puts on a Mets cap during his introductory press conference at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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Every New York Mets fan knows by now that superstar slugger Juan Soto has joined their team in a 15-year, $765 contract that was signed back in December.

In the hours before his final decision, Soto was still unsure about which team he would put pen to paper with. However, this contract (which is the biggest guaranteed deal for a player in sports history) ultimately convinced Soto that New York was willing to spend whatever it would take to secure his services.

But the Mets' front office wasn't always to offer a contract of this magnitude. In fact, their first offer for Soto nearly caused them to exit the sweepstakes entirely, which Jon Heyman of the New York Post conveyed in a January 30 article.

"Back in the topsy-turvy Soto talks, where three rounds of bidding were established, the Mets nearly fell out in Round 1," Heyman wrote.

"After the Mets initially bid around $500M — word is, they first suggested about $41M a year for 12 years before eventually coming up 50 percent — they were informed they were in last place, or thereabouts, among five big-market teams bidding. At that moment, it appeared the Mets might exit quickly. But as we now know, the perseverance of Cohen and Co. paid off big time," he continued.

"After putting themselves in the middle of things by Round 2, the Mets wound up winning that historic free-agent lottery. They did so by bidding competitively, learning all they could (they correctly surmised it was between them and the Yankees in the end; not all bidders did) and especially by smartly stressing family. (We don’t really still believe that measly $5M gap won the day, now do we?)"

This insight into the Mets' initial offer of about $500 million for 12 years is fascinating and it wasn't widely reported before Heyman broke it.

Thankfully, the Mets ultimately provided Soto with an offer that he clearly couldn't refuse. And thankfully Soto gave them another opportunity after that first offer.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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