Juan Soto signing biggest step in Mets upgrading their image

The Tom Seaver statue serves as the unofficial gatekeeper for Citi Field, as the majestic bronze memorial to the greatest Met is the first thing people see when they descend the stairs from the No. 7 subway stop above Roosevelt Avenue. Decades in the making, the statue is a beloved tribute to a cherished player, symbolic in the sense that no one rises above Seaver in the franchise’s history.

So imagine the significance when the Mets’ sales-pitch team for Juan Soto — a group spearheaded by owner Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns — decided to close their recruitment video for the free-agent slugger with Seaver as its finale, but with a heart-tugging kicker.

Next to Seaver stood a statue of Soto, too.

“I thought that was pretty creative,” said Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, who has screened dozens of such lavish presentations. “As you know, I’m kind of a member of the baseball Academy Awards of videos, so I’ve seen a number of them. I saw where they put Bryce Harper’s jersey on Michael Jordan’s statue in Chicago. It was very well done. But this was a pleasant moment.”

At the risk of sounding repetitive, we understand the Mets ultimately swayed Soto with the highest offer, a whopping 15-year, $765 million deal front-loaded to pay him $305 million through the first five seasons, thanks to a $75 million signing bonus. Once you factor in an escalator clause that kicks in if the Mets choose to negate the 2029 opt-out, the value could be upped to $805 million over the life of the contract.

But in discussing the Mets’ ability to land an elite free agent in Soto, it also speaks to what’s happening right now on 41 Seaver Way. Yes, Cohen is the richest individual owner in the majors, and his $21 billion personal fortune — along with his willingness to lean on those funds — enables the Mets to overwhelm the competition. Even a Steinbrenner, who apparently went against the advice of his own front office in pushing the Yankees’ bid to $760 million for 16 years.

The Soto pursuit, however, was far more involved than Cohen sitting across the table from Boras and sliding him an offer sheet over cappuccinos. This was a thoughtfully planned, supremely executed rollout that folded in a number of executives and family members, from Cohen’s wife, Alex — or "Tia Alex,'' as she’s known around the batting cage — to his son Josh, who put together the Soto hype reel, to 93-year-old father-in-law Ralph, who actually took a cross-country flight to Los Angeles to be part of the presentation.

When a handful of big-market teams are coming hard with the cash, the commitment counts, too. And the Mets — now approaching Cohen’s fifth year of ownership — can offer a fully formed championship-caliber organization that promises to make a World Series push every year, not just once a decade or so.

Cohen assured us that would be the case when he purchased the Mets for $2.4 billion in November  2020 — compare that number now with what he paid for Soto — but he soon discovered that doesn’t happen overnight. Throwing money at problems doesn’t guarantee success, and it’s only through trial and error — with general managers, with players, even with Hall of Fame pitchers — that the Mets have ascended to their current status as a baseball force to be reckoned with.

Cohen bringing his financial muscle to Flushing was a giant first step. Giving Francisco Lindor that $341 million contract, an overpay at the time, is an investment that has increased in value as he’s become a franchise cornerstone. Finally, Cohen getting his guy Stearns, a native New Yorker who grew up a Mets fan, to engineer the title-building process instantly paid off when he turned a debut transition year into an overachieving NLCS run. Signing Soto, which was on the radar when Cohen and Stearns first began their business relationship, is the splashy next step of that Mets evolution.

“It accelerates our goal of winning championships,” said Cohen, with an emphasis on the plural. “But more important . . . my goal was to change how the Mets are viewed. And I think we’re really on the path of changing that. We’re never going to stop. We’re always in a constant state of improvement. But that’s my goal — my goal is that the Mets are going to be a premier team, one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball.”

Cohen already has made the Mets an enviable destination, really for the first time since they spent freely on players way back before the 2008 Madoff scandal began the erosion of the Wilpons’ financial viability to build a consistent winner worthy of New York’s big-market standards. Under Cohen’s stewardship, the Mets have a .528 winning percentage (342-306) over those four years, including two playoff appearances and a 101-win season.

That’s a fairly quick turnaround, even if the Mets  have only one season left to make good on Cohen’s stated desire to win a title within his first five years. And it’s undeniable that Soto’s arrival, which should be the glitzy precursor to even more upgrades, just moved Cohen that much closer to his championship goals.

“I think we have a reputation as an organization, especially now going into this offseason, where people want to come here,” Stearns said. “We have agents reaching out to us expressing interest on behalf of their clients. So this will just add to that.”

Not too long ago, only one New York team could say that with any certainty. The Yankees were an invincible worldwide brand, and winning was synonymous with the Bronx. But Cohen and Stearns have put Flushing back on the baseball map in relatively short order, along with an all-hands-on-deck approach from family and staff alike that delivered Soto — nothing less than the biggest signing in the sport’s history.

“Everything they brought to the table was really special,” Soto said. “I think everything that they showed me — what they have, what they want to do — it was incredible. But my favorite part was the video.”

If Soto turns out to be the championship piece the Mets are banking on him to be, the catalyst to fulfill Cohen’s ambitious vision for the franchise’s future, that video will be more prophecy than dreamscape. And Seaver could have company someday outside Citi Field.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

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.