Juan Soto was the most sought after free agent coming into the 2025 baseball season. He spent last year playing for the New York Yankees who got to the World Series, however ending up losing four games to one against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Soto had a .288 batting average with 41 home runs, 109 RBI’s and a OPS of .988 for the Yankees in the regular season. During the Yankees postseason run to the World Series, Soto had a .327 batting average, 4 home runs and 9 RBI’s in 16 games. Looking through his stats this looks like it could have been his best season of his career. Perfectly lining up with a huge offseason for both Juan Soto and MLB baseball free agent market.

The offseason started right away with Soto saying he would listen to all teams that came to him with offers. With that being said, favorites started being said from the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, and of course the Los Angeles Dodgers. Personally (maybe selfishly) I was thinking he would fit perfect in a Boston Red Sox uniform. However, teams started dwindling down and it seemed like only two teams were left in the sweepstakes at the end and miraculously both were from New York (Yankees and Mets). The news broke finally during the late Sunday night on December 8th 2024 that Juan Soto signed a 15 year $765 million deal to be a Met!?!

Yes, you read that right 15 years for $765 million (could reach up to $805 million) which is $51 million dollars per year. To break it down completely, Soto receives a $75 million signing bonus, no deferred money (Unlike the Los Angeles Dodgers), Opt out after year 5 which puts him at around 30 years old, and to top it all off the Mets through in a family suite at Citi Field (roughly valued at about $500k a year). What an absolute monster of a contract to play the game of baseball (definitely harder than how that reads but still). The Yankees rumored offer was 16 years for $760 million which breaks down to roughly $47.5 million per year.

In ending, I personally think paying the $765 million for one player is absolutely crazy. However, with Ohtani’s $700 million we saw last year I am not surprised. Between Soto and Ohtani I would rather have Soto (unpopular opinion I’m sure). Hear me out, Soto plays both sides (hitting and fielding) of the ball guaranteed, he is one of the best hitters in baseball, no deferred money, and he is very durable. Ohtani has had two Tommy John surgeries, spent the first year of his contract as a DH, has deferred out his contract until 2043 (smart on his part but rough on the team in the future), and quite possibly may never pitch again leaving the question did the Los Angeles Dodgers pay $700 million for a Designated Hitter? 

Crazy to think we have a $700 million contract and now a $765 million contract in the MLB. The way sports are going all this means is that the average fan may never be able to afford to go see their favorite team or player. If these monster contracts continue (which they will) owners will have to start charging double maybe even triple to go see a game. Will there be a salary cap introduced to MLB? Will we have rules on deferred money? Only time will tell, but what I time to be a professional baseball player.