Juan Soto set a record for a professional athlete by signing a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets in December. Stunningly, Soto has revealed in a new interview he had a larger offer on the table.
“The Mets weren’t the ones who offered the most money,” Soto said in Spanish, in a teaser released on Instagram for an upcoming episode of Abriendo El Podcast. “There were teams that offered more than the Mets.”
Soto, 26, is a four-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and a 2019 World Series champion with the Washington Nationals. Last year he finished third in American League MVP Award voting and led the New York Yankees to an American League pennant.
The particulars of Soto’s admission figure to be revealed when the full podcast episode drops Sunday. Principally: which team made a bigger offer, and how much money were they offering?
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The contract Soto signed can easily increase in value to more than $800 million if Soto opts out after five years, the Mets void the opt-out, and exercise their right to increase his salary for the final 10 years of the deal by $4 million, from $51 to $55 million a year.
In effect, Soto’s future earnings can follow one of three possible paths:
- He doesn’t opt out of his current contract after the 2029 season, effectively locking him in to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets — a record for both total contract value and average annual value.
- He does opt out of his contract in 2029, and the Mets choose not to void Soto’s opt-out, making him a free agent. In this case, Soto’s current deal will top out at five years and $305 million.
- Soto does opt out of his contract in 2029, and the Mets void the opt-out by exercising their right to increase his salary. If so, they would pay Soto a record base salary of $805 million over the life of the deal — a record for both total contract value and average annual value.
Was the rival team’s offer higher in terms of total value, average annual value, or both? Did it include the opt-out? All of those questions are relevant to the answer to the question of who offered Juan Soto the most money?
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It likely wasn’t the New York Yankees. According to ESPN.com, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman preferred to keep Soto’s annual average salary at $47.5 million and offered him a 16th year, moving the total value of their offer from $712.5 million to $760 million. Cashman “included a $60 million signing bonus and the same fifth-year opt-out the Mets offered, but without the voiding element.”
Why Soto chose the Mets is well–documented. Still unknown is why Soto turned down more money, and from whom.
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