In signing Juan Soto to a norms-shattering, record-splattering $765 million contract, the New York Mets have their king of Corona. And now a coronation surely awaits.
Right?
Right?
Well, not so fast. The Mets got immeasurably better, and probably bought more than a decade worth of elite production in signing the 26-year-old superstar to the biggest contract in sports history.
Yet it’s true: You can’t buy a championship, be it of the World Series variety or a simple, more modest National League East championship flag that might flap atop Citi Field.
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The Mets have not finished first since 2015 and have won the division just twice in 36 years, and on paper, would be starting from a place of modesty, even as they parlayed a perilous 89-win season into a run to the NL Championship Series in October.
No, there’s still a foundation to be laid and infrastructure to build and a sustainable model to craft. In signing Soto, though, owner Steve Cohen has laid out strict marching orders for club president David Stearns: To build the plane as he’s landing it.
World Series champs? Probably someday, maybe in 2025, likelier a good bit more down the line. But Soto has time: The Mets can buy out his opt-out clause in 2029, meaning that come March 27, when Soto makes his Mets debut at Houston’s Daikin Park, the countdown clock can start ticking down from 15 years.
Just what is Soto, a four-time All-Star and third-place AL MVP finisher, getting himself into? Let’s explore:
It’s the shortstop’s squad
The Yankees loved Soto, and two-time MVP Aaron Judge seemed to strike up a quick kinship with his slugger. Funny how batting behind the greatest left-handed hitter of this time can endear that guy to his mates.
Across town, the Mets have their own runner-up MVP finisher and his name is Francisco Lindor. While Soto may be the biggest asset in Cohen’s portfolio, Lindor was the bell cow, acquired from Cleveland and quickly signed to a $341 million extension.
And goodness, has he been worth it.
After a year of adjusting, Lindor has been a machine, producing seasons of 5.6, 6.0 and 6.9 WAR, 30-homer pop and Silver Slugger production from shortstop. While young slugger Pete Alonso preceded Lindor’s arrival in Queens, Alonso is a free agent, perhaps viewed as expendable with Soto aboard.
So for now, this is Lindor’s team. And it will be fascinating to watch the Lindor-Soto dynamic play out. Both are four-time All-Stars and very well-decorated: Soto a World Series champ and five-time Silver Slugger, Lindor a four-time Silver Slugger and Platinum Glove winner who nearly brought Cleveland its first championship since 1948.
Both are dogged competitors with enough charisma to light up two or three boroughs, and should make beautiful music together atop the Mets lineup. It will be tough to match the Judge-Soto energy across town; there’s something about lefty-righty sluggers batting back-to-back and combining for 99 home runs that’s tough to replicate.
Lindor-Soto will be different. Health willing, it should be incredible.
A superstar blossoms?
Those 89-win OMG Mets seemed to be forged on equal parts whimsy and wackiness, what with a singing second baseman, playoff pumpkins and pitchers paying tribute to each other with eye black.
Yet short of winning a world championship, there wasn’t much that could happen last year to exceed Mark Vientos’ development.
Thanks in part to minor-league pep talks from Jose Iglesias, Vientos, who turns 25 on Wednesday, returned to the majors in June and stuck for good, improving his defense at third base and smacking 27 home runs in 111 games.
In the playoffs? He chewed up the rival Philadelphia Phillies, ripping nine hits in 16 at-bats, including two doubles and two homers. Then he torched the eventual champion Dodgers for three homers, including a grand slam, extending them to six games, one more than the Yankees would in the World Series.
Soto’s arrival seems very fortuitous here.
Vientos debuted in 2022 and it took him a minute to fully launch. With the most significant signing in club history now on board, Vientos can report to Port St. Lucie in February to little fanfare, and less pressure. He can grow organically – oh, and hit in front of or behind the great Soto.
Pretty good break for the kid.
Mets projected lineup
Manager Carlos Mendoza can play this a lot of ways, and the script is not yet written for 2025. Will Alonso return? That’s a crucial question, but let’s play the ball where it lies, with the offseason only now kicking off in earnest:
Francisco Lindor, SS
Juan Soto, RF
Mark Vientos, 1B
Brandon Nimmo, LF
Starling Marte, DH
Jeff McNeil, 2B
Tyrone Taylor, CF
Francisco Alvarez, C
Brett Baty, 3B
Now, a lot can and will happen. An Iglesias reunion seems like a possibility. The club may want to consider a larger role for Luisangel Acuña, who filled in well for Lindor in September. Jose Siri is in the outfield mix.
The top of the lineup is elite. But the health and production concerns start not even halfway through it, and Stearns will have to fortify the depth significantly as the winter rolls on.
Oh, and Alonso would be nice. Steve?
A sustainable Death Star
The Stearns-Cohen dynamic was always going to be fascinating, with the new baseball operations chief having made his bones in Milwaukee, where the budget is as skinny as the brats are fat. How would the highly efficient baseball exec and the man with $20 billion of net worth align in their goals?
Well, so far, so good.
Sure, nobody believed Stearns would convince Cohen that the Soto outlay would be “unsustainable.” Heck, that’s always ownership’s call.
But Stearns’ MO is starting to come into focus.
So far, for the second consecutive winner, he’s opting for a plug-and-play tactic in amassing a starting rotation – eschewing big bucks and betting on upside. That worked out remarkably well last year with Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana and Luis Severino, who will all get much richer thanks to what they accomplished in Queens.
This year is more of the same: Frankie Montas, signed to a two-year deal. Yankees reliever Clay Holmes hoping to become the next Seth Lugo. Banking on a Kodai Senga health bounceback.
Sure, Cohen could have a big free agent pitcher strike up his sleeve, though that market will be crowded. But there’s a lot of sense in trying to become Brewers East on the mound, and pouring resources into the lineup and bullpen.
There’s a lot of work left to be done, in all three phases. Beyond that, what’s been an almost constantly middling Mets player development arm must be revamped, which will be challenging when draft choices are lost through free agent signings and success breeds lower draft picks.
All in due time. For now, the bones of an 89-win team just added a Hall of Fame bat in his prime. Juan Soto, meet the Mets. You’ll probably get along just fine.
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