NEW YORK — In the end, what Juan Soto felt was comfort.
“It seems like they are the right family — a family that wants to win, but definitely that wants to take care of their players and their families,” he said. “Coming from the owner that does that, it’s really special.”
“He felt that over the long term, he and his family would be most comfortable in this environment,” Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, said. “That was the decision that was of most priority to him.”
Yes, the New York Mets offered the most money, and although neither Soto nor Boras will say it, that’s as primary a factor as any in his decision to sign with the Mets. However, New York’s pitch to Soto hit the right notes on what Boras called the “human moments” — on taking care of his family, on caring about their players, on being comfortable for a 15-year commitment.
“If you were going to commit to somebody for 15 years, you’d ask a lot of questions,” owner Steve Cohen said Thursday. “You’d want to know who are you, what’s our philosophy, how do we think about things. Right? Now you’re tied at the hip.”
“This was not only a baseball decision,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “This was a family decision for them.”
Soto emphasized a rapport with his future owner as much as any major free agent in recent memory. He’d been tight with Ted Lerner in Washington, turning down an extension there in part because a sale of the team looked imminent. He was close with Peter Seidler in San Diego, who’d wanted to extend Soto before dying last offseason. Soto had notably not developed that kind of relationship with Hal Steinbrenner in his lone season across town, leaving open the chance for Cohen or another owner to court him this winter.
So there was a personalized video in the presentation. The Mets flew Ralph Garcia, the 93-year-old father of Alex Cohen, Steve’s wife, across the country to meet with Soto to emphasize how deep the family’s connection to the Mets ran. They talked up the behind-the-scenes upgrades the club has made under Alex Cohen’s direction to better cater to players’ families.
Soto noted the relationships Steve Cohen has created with other Mets players, such as Francisco Lindor and Edwin Díaz. So when he sat down with what Boras called the “Supreme Court of Soto” to make his decision, the Mets stood out.
It wasn’t that long ago that Cohen’s presence leading the Mets wasn’t an unalloyed positive. Three winters ago, the Mets labored to hire a top baseball executive with candidates unsure of how to manage the owner. Now, Cohen, Stearns and Carlos Mendoza have built an organization that appeals across the league.
“We were a place and are a place that players want to play, that we have a culture where everyone — players, coaches, staff — enjoy coming to the ballpark every day and enjoy each other,” Stearns said. “I think that was part of it.”
Juan Soto said it seems like the Cohens, the owners of the Mets, “are the right family,” and he felt comfort in deciding to sign with them. (Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
The Mets offered Soto the most money.
Beyond the financial component, Soto said he picked the Mets because they are committed to “grow a dynasty.”
“It was one of the most important things,” Soto said. “What you were seeing from the other side (last season) was unbelievable. The vibes and everything, the feel and future that this team has had a lot to do with my decision.”
During Soto’s meetings with teams, he asked philosophical questions, some about farm systems.
“We talked a lot about both our approach to roster building and the young talent that we have coming,” Stearns said. “And our ability to continuously supplement our major-league team with ownership resources while also investing heavily in our minor-league system. Juan’s been around enough organizations, and he’s certainly been around the league enough, that he has got a pretty good feel of what leads to sustainable competitiveness. And I think he felt like our vision aligned with his.”
At Soto’s second lunch with Cohen and Stearns on Dec. 6, Soto asked Cohen about championship goals.
Cohen told him, “I’d like to win two to four.”
Still, that $765 million price tag. Did anyone with the Mets find that jarring?
“If you had asked me at the start of this process, I probably wouldn’t have said it would have gotten this high,” Stearns said. “By last week, probably wouldn’t have surprised me.”
“One thing I learned a long time ago: If you want something that’s amazing, it’s going to be uncomfortable,” Cohen said. “I always stretch a little bit because I know that’s what it takes to get it done.”
“I’d say the demand for Juan Soto exceeded the demand for any player I’ve represented before in this atmosphere of totality of contract,” Boras said, adding that so many teams were interested because such an investment still made economic sense. “The surplus value of Juan Soto is so extreme. It’s well over $1 billion. They knew that this is a rare opportunity.”
What’s Soto going to spend some of that money on, starting with the $75 million signing bonus?
“The first thing that came to mind was, I’m going to try to help a lot of people back in the DR,” he said. “I know that there are a lot of kids that have talent and they can have a bright future, but they don’t have the support to do it. And I feel like when you sign a contract like that, that’s the first thing it brings to my mind, to help the community and try to help everybody around my country — and try to create more chances, more opportunities for the people to grow and keep moving forward.
“You never know who’s going to be the next Juan Soto, who’s going to be the next (Shohei) Ohtani, the next Bryce Harper, or who’s going to be the next Scott Boras, who’s going to be the next Steve Cohen. I want to give them that little hope.”
“I’m going to try to help a lot of people back in the DR,” Juan Soto said of his $765 million deal. (Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
The Mets’ recruiting video for Soto lasted two minutes and 45 seconds.
Just enough to make a memorable impression.
“My favorite part was the video,” Soto said.
At the beginning of Soto’s news conference, Steve Cohen thanked his son, Josh, “for contributing a phenomenal video.”
Josh Cohen deferred credit to the Mets’ creative team, which is led by executive vice president and chief marketing officer Andy Goldberg and Mets vice president for creative content Bobby Clemens.
For the video, the marketing team solicited input from the Mets’ baseball operations leaders and players. They highlighted the future of the club and showed Soto how much they value families.
Only a select number of people saw the video before they presented it to Soto: the Cohens, Goldberg, Clemens and Stearns.
“We keep it a tight group,” Goldberg said. “At the end of the day, it’s also great storytelling and great creative, what the team here does. The more inputs you have, the more diluted it becomes. You keep that circle of influence very small on what’s going to make a great piece whether it’s an ad or a video for Juan.”
Boras referred to the video as impressive.
Toward the end of the video, the Mets showed their statue of Tom Seaver in front of Citi Field with a statue of Soto next to it.
“We were just grateful that he had such a great response to it,” Josh Cohen said. “This team is incredible.”
One longtime executive of another team put things succinctly when it comes to the Mets and how they might operate the rest of the offseason after their gargantuan deal with Soto: “Why stop there?”
Indeed, plenty of work remains.
The group of next-best hitters in free agency includes Pete Alonso. The Mets need to either re-sign the homegrown star or find a viable alternative at first base.
Throughout the offseason, Mets officials have offered the same stance on Alonso, calling him a “great Met” and saying they’d “love to have him back.”
Soto’s contract doesn’t change that.
“We’re still engaged,” Cohen said. “We hope he stays as a Met.”
Beyond Alonso and first base, the Mets need to make further additions to their pitching staff. For the rotation, they’ve explored adding at least one more starter after signing Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes to a group that includes Kodai Senga and David Peterson plus depth options such as Paul Blackburn and Tylor Megill. Sean Manaea is another player from last year’s team who lingers in free agency.
“I’ll leave that to David, but we’ve still got stuff to do,” Cohen said when asked how the deal with Soto affects the rest of the offseason. “We’ll see what it looks like when we’re done.”
Stearns added, “We continue to have resources. Steve and Alex continue to support us in very robust ways. Where we spend those resources remains to be seen, and how far we go remains to be seen. But throughout their time here, Steve and Alex have supported the baseball initiatives to the fullest extent, and I’m very confident they’ll continue to do so.”
(Top photo of David Stearns and Juan Soto: Al Bello / Getty Images)
