Inside The Mets

Why Steve Cohen was convinced he lost Juan Soto

This was the point when Steve Cohen thought the New York Mets were out on Juan Soto.

Grant Young

Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets owner Steve Cohen speaks next to general manager David Stearns during a press conference to introduce right fielder Juan Soto at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets owner Steve Cohen speaks next to general manager David Stearns during a press conference to introduce right fielder Juan Soto at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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On the night before Opening Day, many New York Mets fans across the world might have woken up after dreaming about seeing Juan Soto take the field in their team's uniform for the first time when it really counts.

Happy 2025 Opening Day, Mets fans. Time will tell what No. 22 will accomplish during what will most likely be a very long, prosperous, and lucrative (at least for him) tenure in Queens. But for now, fans can bask in the optimism that comes when a team has zero losses on its regular season record.

However, the Mets would have a much less optimistic outlook for this coming season if owner Steve Cohen's initial belief about his team's chances of landing Soto were accurate.

In a March 25 article from Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, he depicts where the Mets stood after the initial round of contract offers for Soto.

"When Cohen made his first offer for Soto, [Soto's agent Scott] Boras did not need to consult his secret number [about Soto's expected contract value] to know what to make of it," Verducci wrote.

Read more: Francisco Lindor discloses Juan Soto 'research' verdict before Mets signing

"Boras told Cohen it was the worst of the initial offers he received: 'Steve, you’re not even in the hunt.'

"'All right. I’m out,'" Cohen was quoted saying in the article.

However, Cohen soon told Boras that he was open to entering the hunt, regardless of how much money that would put on the table. But after a meeting with Soto and Boras, where Soto emphasized the lack of lineup protection he'd have in Queens at that point, things were looking bleak — according to Cohen.

"When Soto and his team left the house, Cohen told Stearns, 'He’s going back to the Yankees,'" the article wrote.

“That was my gut feeling,” Cohen said. “I was having a hard time coming up with a reason why he would join us.”

The next morning, Boras called Cohen and told him how well Soto thought the meeting went. And the rest is history.

Cohen not giving up in this Soto pursuit gave Mets fans 15 years of baseball to look forward to.

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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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