The numbers on Juan Soto’s new contract are nothing short of mind-boggling.

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Fifteen years in length. A guarantee of $765 million – with no deferrals like other recent big contracts (I.E. Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, etc) – and a $75 million signing bonus in addition to an opt-out clause after the fifth year.

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Soto, entering his age-26 season, can earn up to $800 million from the New York Mets with escalators, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

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Wait, the Mets?!

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Even from an outside vantage point, I envisioned Soto would return to the Bronx, where he helped lead the 2024 New York Yankees to an AL Pennant and the franchise’s first World Series since 2009.

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Yet, in a scenario that never happens, the folks in Flushing taking away a superstar from the Bronx became a reality.

In two lines from Will Sammon’s Dec. 8 column on The Athletic (subscription via The Athletic/New York Times required), he summed up a principle of baseball’s business that was flipped on its proverbial head:

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“The Mets topped the Yankees.

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This. Does. Not. Happen.”

You know what also doesn’t happen? Spurning what would have been – at the time – the richest baseball contract in the history of the sport in 2022.

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Soto was the face of the Washington Nationals, and they offered an unprecedented extension to the then-24-year-old outfielder who has drawn comparisons to legends of the game such as Ted Williams: The reported 15-year, $440 million extension.

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When that offer was turned down by Soto and his agent, the (in)famous Scott Boras, the Lerner family and Mike Rizzo decided to accelerate their ongoing rebuild by sending Soto out west to San Diego at the 2022 trade deadline. That’s where the wunderkind stayed until the trade was reported on Dec. 6, 2023, that he was headed to the Yankees.

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No one can ever fault the Nationals for their offer. In fact, the players that both the Nationals and Padres received in their respective Soto blockbuster trades either have formed new foundational cores for the franchise (Washington) or have been used in packages to help land established talent and make the playoffs for the third time in five years (San Diego).

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Heck, when this column had been fully edited the evening of Dec. 10, massive news broke that added even more importance to the players shipped from San Diego to D.C. in the first Soto blockbuster:

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The Nationals landed the No. 1 overall pick in July’s 2025 MLB Amateur Draft. Ironically, the 2025 season will be the 20-year anniversary of the team’s move from Montreal to the nation’s capital in 2005 following the entire 2001 contraction fiasco.

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On a final side note: Ethan Holliday – the son of multi-time All-Star Matt Holliday and younger brother Jackson, the previous No. 1 prospect in baseball before exhausting his rookie status – is the current projected top pick.

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Shohei Ohtani shattered not only the $500 and $600 million barriers with his $700 million pact with the Los Angeles Dodgers on account of his two-way potential, but he also earned a World Series ring this fall against the Judge and Soto-led Bronx Bombers.

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Soto added at minimum $325 million from the offer the Nationals put forth, with those escalators for Soto nearly doubling it if the potential future Cooperstown candidate does not opt out of his contract with the Mets.

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For small market fans, this may very well reignite the salary cap/salary floor debate (March 2025 – an overdue retrospective). For players such as Cleveland superstar Jose Ramirez, they’re an outlier in terms of staying with one team on the cheap – if you consider the Nationals’ Soto offer as such.

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I never could walk away from what Washington offered Soto. Playing baseball, I became a natural outfielder with my speed and was very pull happy (even after fixing up my hitting mechanics). I know my natural talent could never match Soto’s in any universe, but if I was in his position, and a team offered me the Nationals’ extension, I’d take it, go play ball every day to my best ability given the long-term security, and not worry about the next few generations of my family.

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A historic gamble are the only words that come to mind for Soto. Perhaps gamble isn’t the right word with MLB’s notorious – and currently hypocritical – stance on gambling. I know one player who should be in the Hall of Fame right now isn’t because of the aforementioned gambling.

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Ohtani’s two-way abilities were a part of why he became the first $700 million player in baseball. Soto, who has one World Series ring to his name, spurned the Yankees reported 16-year, $760 million proposal for Mets Owner Steve Cohen’s offer – with reports saying neither contract contained deferrals in the money.

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It took a perfect storm of improbable events – Cohen buying the Mets, Ohtani’s incredible abilities, and Soto’s own acumen. 

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For Soto, he had a willingness to bet on his own performance and talent, landing him the richest sports deal out there. The gamble paid off in spades.

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If only we could all be Juan Soto. 

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