Juan Soto has made his decision. He'll be staying in the same city, albeit with a new team.
Multiple outlets reported Sunday that the New York Mets have landed baseball's most coveted free agent with a massive 15-year, $765 million contract that ranks as the largest in professional sports history.
Soto chose the Mets over a handful of suitors that included the crosstown-rival New York Yankees, the team he spent the 2024 season with and helped reach the World Series.
The contract surpasses the 10-year, $700 million deal the Los Angeles Dodgers gave two-way superstar and 2024 National League MVP Shohei Ohtani last December as the largest ever in terms of overall value. And while the majority of Ohtani's guaranteed money was deferred, the Associated Press reports that Soto's agreement contains no deferments.
Soto's contract is also the longest in MLB history in terms of length, exceeding the 14-year, $340 million extension his former San Diego Padres team-mate, Fernando Tatis Jr., signed in 2021.
The New York Post reports that Soto's deal also includes an opt-out clause following the 2029 season, which would allow the four-time All-Star outfielder to re-enter the free-agent market at age 31.
The Yankees, who acquired Soto from the Padres a year ago in a seven-player trade that sent five players to San Diego, reportedly made a final offer of $760 million over 16 years, according to the Associated Press.
Soto was indisputably the crown jewel of this year's free-agent class as a 26-year-old who established himself as one of the game's premier offensive players ever since entering the majors at age 19 with the Washington Nationals in 2018. An exceptionally disclipined hitter, the Dominican native has drawn 125 or more walks in four straight seasons and his .421 career on-base percentage is the highest of any active player with at least 500 plate appearances.
The five-time Silver Slugger recipient also owns a career .285 batting average with a .953 OPS while compiling 201 home runs and 592 RBIs over seven MLB seasons.
Soto helped the Nationals to the franchise's lone World Series title in 2019 by hitting .282 with 34 homers and 110 RBIs in his second major league season. He spent four-plus seasons with Washington before being traded to the Padres midway through the 2022 campaign after turning out a reported 15-year, $440 million extension.
The Padres moved Soto to the Yankees prior to his final year before free agency in a deal that ended up aiding both teams, with the slugger playing a major role in the Bronx Bombers' run to their first World Series appearance since 2009.
Soto hit a career-high 41 homers in his lone season with the Yankees to go along with a .288 average and 109 RBIs in 157 games, and finished third in voting for the 2024 American League MVP award won by team-mate Aaron Judge.
The Mets have annually been among MLB's biggest spenders since owner Steve Cohen purchased the team in November 2020 and were already active in free agency this off-season. The team signed another former Yankee earlier this week by adding pitcher Clay Holmes on a three-year, $38 million contract and also reached a two-year, $34 million agreement with starting pitcher Frankie Montas.