It seems hard to remember now, but two and a half years ago, some people doubted Juan Soto. When he turned down a $440 million, 15-year contract extension from the Washington Nationals, you could hear the gasps from Bethesda to Alexandria. What does he think he’s going to get? some of those people wondered. $500 million?
No, someone familiar with the situation confirmed to Sports Illustrated on Sunday as the Winter Meetings opened. $765 million.
Twenty-three current owners bought their teams for less money.
Soto bet on himself, and he won to a degree even he might not have anticipated. The deal is the largest in North American sports history and will make him a New York Met for 15 years. Soto’s $51 million average annual value is also the highest in history for present-day value. (The New York Post first reported the pact.)
The contract includes an opt-out after five years and—remarkably—no deferrals, meaning Soto will make about $300 million more than any other MLB player has on a single contract. (Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year for 10 years and $700 million, opted to defer $680 million of that money, making his present-day value closer to $461 million and AAV approximately $46.1 million.)
If you count the $23 million Soto made in arbitration in 2023 and the $31 million in ’24—as agent Scott Boras certainly does—that’s $819 million, an 86% increase over that extension offer.
Soto, who turned 26 in October, already ranks among the best hitters ever: His career OPS of .953 is 23rd all-time. Only six players have hit more homers through age 25 than Soto’s 201, and his 760 career walks beat No. 2 (Mickey Mantle) by 99. Soto is nearly as good in the postseason, with a knack for the moment: His 10th-inning, two-out, two-strike three-run home run to send the Yankees to the World Series this October was one of the best performances his teammates had ever seen. “Just an at-bat for the ages,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
So there was never any question that Soto had a chance to set salary records. Still, when Soto turned down the Nationals’ offer, the people around him struggled with his decision. The news that he had rejected nearly half a billion dollars pitted “all the fans, all the Dominicans, even my family against me,” he told SI in 2023. He felt completely overwhelmed as he tried to navigate their skepticism, especially amid upheaval: The Nationals traded him that summer to the San Diego Padres; after a season and a half, the Padres, looking to shed salary, sent him to the Yankees.
“A lot of teammates were like, ‘We respect your thinking, but that’s a lot of money,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘Guys, I’m trying to do what’s best for me and what’s best for my family.’ And you gotta go out there and perform. And you try to perform for guys that doubt you. And that’s one of the things I hated.” Even nine months after he turned down the Nationals, some of his relatives still did not understand, he said.
That stretch marked the first time Soto really questioned whether he was made for the spotlight. He had always been a showman: As a teenager he choreographed an elaborate dance every time he took a close pitch. At 21 he carried his bat with him to first base after a home run during the 2019 World Series. At 23 he debuted a chain bearing a diamond-encrusted pendant of himself doing the Soto Shuffle.
Still, he scuffled those first months in San Diego, and some of the people close to him wondered whether he’d been distracted by the rumors or even begun to wish he’d just taken the cash and stayed in D.C. But then he began to hit again, and then he began to smile again. He appeared for his Yankees introductory press conference wearing a T-shirt that read THE GENERATIONAL JUAN SOTO. He produced the best season of his career and finished third in MVP voting.
Then, the free-agent frenzy began. While Ohtani’s camp reportedly told prospective teams he would punish them for leaks, Soto leaned into the intrigue, posting an Instagram video that appeared to be an announcement about his destination but was actually just an advertisement for his new brand deal with an energy drink manufacturer.
The drama wound down on Sunday with the news of his decision. Mets fans have celebrated loudly. Yankees fans have mourned. The people who doubted Soto have been harder to find.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Juan Soto’s Self-Confidence Pays Off With Record MLB Contract.
