Juan Soto to Mets means there's a new Boss in town: Steve Cohen
Mets owner Steve Cohen during spring training in February. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
DALLAS
When Steve Cohen purchased the Mets, putting baseball’s richest owner at the helm of the Flushing franchise, everyone had an idea this day was coming.
But it didn’t formally arrive until Sunday night at approximately 10:10 p.m. ET, when the news broke (and sources confirmed) that Juan Soto — perhaps the most coveted free-agent prize ever — had agreed to come to the Mets on a 15-year, $765 million deal, the most lucrative contract in professional sports.
Cohen has yet to accomplish his stated goal of winning a World Series, although the Mets did come within two wins of getting there this past October. Soto certainly should help with that mission.
But in landing Soto, and beating out the Yankees to do so, Cohen already has achieved something no one really thought was possible for the folks in Flushing. Because now, from this day forward, when it comes to New York baseball, the little brother now resides in the Bronx.
The Yankees have the 27 championships and a winning tradition over the past century that no one else can touch. But we’re talking about the here and now, and thanks to Cohen’s financial might — a muscle that George Steinbrenner used to flex regularly in ruling the city — the Mets are staking their claim to the future.
The Soto sweepstakes represented the first time in recent memory that the Mets and Yankees went toe-to-toe for the top free agent on the market — agent Scott Boras thought they bumped heads some for Alex Rodriguez more than two decades ago — and it was a Cohen who knocked out a Steinbrenner to establish New York’s new ruling class.
For those old enough to know otherwise, this is a seismic shift in the way baseball business is done in these two boroughs. Before Sunday, the Yankees ponied up the cash for whomever they wanted and the Mets wound up with the leftovers. No longer. This was a full-blown bidding war for Soto, the most aggressive we’ve ever seen, and Cohen emerged the victor, regardless of the cost.
We shouldn’t be surprised by Cohen’s aggressiveness. Yes, the money is mind-boggling. Stunning, really. The fact that Soto got all the way up to $765 million — meaning the Yankees and perhaps the Red Sox and Blue Jays all shot up past $700 million as well — is beyond what anyone could have imagined. Maybe even Boras.
But the fact that it was Cohen who pushed the price? Not shocking at all.
For a while there, we wondered if the $21 billion fortune was more for show when his new president of baseball operations, David Stearns, put together the 2024 team on a budget. Did Cohen feel burned by his bad investments in Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander? Did he have a reckoning over those poor returns?
No chance. The buyer’s remorse didn’t last very long. Not only was Cohen dying to spend again, but the Mets had close to $180 million coming off the books this winter and he clearly was in the mood to chase the feelings from October.
As giddy as the Mets were about their breathtaking NLCS run, no one looked happier than Cohen, who was a regular behind the cage during batting practice and spraying champagne in the celebratory clubhouse.
Cohen pledged to give Mets fans another winner this coming season. He then put his sizable fortune where his mouth is by securing Soto’s “generational talent” for almost another generation in Flushing.
The Mets still have more work to do this offseason. Pete Alonso remains a free agent, and you have to wonder if the signing of Soto will spell the end of the Polar Bear’s stay. They also need more help for the rotation, preferably a front-line starter. Those don’t come cheap, either. But there is plenty of time left for that, including what should be a very busy week at these winter meetings.
Signing Soto, however, is now an Everest moment in Mets history. It’s the jumping-off point for a different future and a new reality, a changing of the guard in New York. Thanks to Cohen, the Mets are done taking a back seat in the Big Apple. There’s officially a new Boss in town, and you can find him at 41 Seaver Way.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.