How is Juan Soto’s historic contract with the Mets made?
Find out all the details of the agreement between the Dominican and his new club, including a possible exit clause
NEW YORK — Now that settled the dust behind him noise caused for the signature of Juan Soto with the New York Metsit is more than adequate to summarize the details of the most expensive marriage between a player and a team in the nearly 150 years of existence of the Major Leagues (MLB) of American baseball.
Soto, who was considered a “generational player” since his debut season (2018) with the Washington Nationals, joins a team that, despite playing in the most important market in American professional sports (and the place where the baseball into the game we know today) has failed to earn the respect of the industry.
Basically, a big free agent looking for a new home and a rich team in need of wins and respect met to produce the richest contract of all time.
RECORD CONTRACT
Soto and the Mets agreed to a 15-year, $765 million deal, with the possibility of adding another $40 million over the final 10 years to bring the total amount to $805 million.
The total money exceeds the contract (10 years and $700 million) that Japanese Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last winter. Soto’s is the longest contract in terms of time, exceeding the 14 years that the San Diego Padres guaranteed his compatriot Fernando Tatis Jr. in an extension agreed to in 2021.
Soto receives a $70 million signing bonus (which can be paid in full in one payment or in multiple installments) and annual salaries of $46.87 million in 2025 and 2026, $42.5 million in 2027, $46.87 million in 2028 and 2029 and $46 million each year between 2030 and 2038.
It is good to note that, for purposes of calculating the Mets’ annual payroll, the overall average of the contract ($51 million) is used regardless of the money advanced in a bonus or the way it is distributed over the duration of the contract. contract.
HOW IT WOULD RISE TO $800 MILLION
Like most of the contracts negotiated by super agent Scott Boras, Soto’s contains an exit clause that the player can execute after his fifth season (in the winter of 2029), but that the Mets will be able to block by adding $4 million dollars annually in the last 10 seasons (rising from $46 to $51 million per year). That is the mechanism that would raise the pact above $800 million.
Using the exit clause to sign a new and more lucrative contract, even with his team, is something that has happened regularly these days.
The Dominican Alex Rodriguez He exercised the option to escape his $252 million, 10-year contract after the seventh season and then proceeded to sign a new 10-year, $275 million contract with the New York Yankees, who had acquired him from the Texas Rangers before the season. of 2004.
More recently, in February 2023, Manny Machado and San Diego agreed to an 11-year, $350 million extension to prevent the third baseman from using his option to escape the 10-year, $300 million contract they signed before the 2019 season. Machado could exercise his option at the end of the fifth season.
NO DEFERRED MONEY
One of the most relevant aspects of Soto’s contract with the Mets is that it does not include deferred money. The Quisqueyan will receive exactly every cent as written in the pact. Very different from the agreement between Ohtani and the Dodgers that establishes that the Japanese will receive 98% ($680 million), without interest, in the next 10 years after his retirement.
In simple words. Ohtani loaned almost his entire salary to the Dodgers without receiving an extra cent in interest over a 20-year stretch.
That is why the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) established the real money value of said contract at $430.8 million and the Dodgers only count $46 million annually for competitive balance tax purposes. If the contract had a real value of $700 million, the Dodgers would count $70 million annually in payroll for having Ohtani.
Soto costs the Mets $51 million annually.
THE INCENTIVES
Soto’s contract contains many incentives, including cash for some awards. A first MVP award would give him a $500,000 bonus, but additional trophies would be worth $1 million. A second place is worth $350 thousand and a third place is worth $150 thousand.
Other honors for performance in the regular season, playoffs and All-Star Game are also contemplated. A luxury suite and seats behind home plate at Citi Field and private security paid for by the Mets are privileges Soto got in his contract.
But beyond the economic element, Soto’s contract contains a no-trade clause, which means that the Mets do not have the power to transfer the player without his consent. This aspect is very important for players because it gives them the opportunity to better plan the future for themselves and their families.
WHY SUCH A LONG CONTRACT?
If it were up to the teams, contracts with players would be medium and short term, which would reduce the natural risk that comes with long commitments. But in an industry where players have access to free agency (and the ability to offer themselves to the highest bidder) and top talent is increasingly scarce, clubs are forced to offer more guaranteed years to win the battle for their rivals.
Although at the dawn of free agency (which was born in 1976 with some key differences to the system we have today) some long contracts were signed, agreements of 10 or more years are a recent phenomenon.
According to a study by Sarah Langs, Soto’s contract is number 28 of all time of 10 or more years. Only three were produced before 2000, of which only one (Dave Winfield10 years and $23 million with the Yankees) paid more than a million dollars per season.
Including Soto’s, only 12 contracts of 10 or more years have been signed in free agency. Naturally, the age of 40 has been established as the limit to guarantee a millionaire payment to the players. That is the age Soto will be in the last year of his contract with the Mets, in 2039.
