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The New York Yankees lost out on the Juan Soto sweepstakes to the New York Mets, as the 26-year-old All-Star outfielder decided to head to Queens after just one season in the Bronx. Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets on Sunday, December 8.
The Mets were “dead in the water” on Sunday afternoon, just hours before landing Juan Soto with the largest contract in the history of American professional sports. What ultimately swung the momentum in their favor, according to reports, was the way that the Yankees treated Soto’s family.
There are reportedly a handful of factors at play with Soto’s family. One incident, according to MLB reporter Jon Heyman, occurred earlier this year when an overzealous Yankees security guard “booted his mother or his father out of some area” and then did the same thing again later in the season with Soto’s driver, who had to “wait out in the rain.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen apparently got wind of this anecdote and brought Mets’ traveling secretary Edgar Suero to meet Soto to explain logistics and family perks.
Heyman says apparently a Yankees security guard booted Soto’s mom or dad from an area in the stadium in April or May, and there were some negative feelings about it; then the same guy threw out Soto’s driver & chef later in the year and they had to wait out in the rain 😬 pic.twitter.com/kez3Yp7PXE
— Jonny’s Lasagna ⚾️ (@JLasagna43) December 9, 2024
Further reports indicate that the Yankees refused to budge when it came to having Soto pay for his own suite at Yankee Stadium, as even the likes of Derek Jeter and Aaron Judge have paid for their own suites, seemingly another of the organization’s antiquated “traditions.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen, worth a reported $21 billion — if he was worth $100,000, Soto’s contract is the equivalent of giving him $3,500 — again caught wind of this news and put a Citi Field suite into Soto’s contract.
Lmao the Yankees lost out on Soto bc they wanted his family to pay for tickets. Losing out on a generational talent over a suite is broke boy shit😂😂 The Mets did that with Arod in 2000 when they were poverty. Times have changed!
But hey Judge & Jeter will still be happy, nbd! pic.twitter.com/pYONwzopZJ
— KFC (@KFCBarstool) December 10, 2024
“The relatively slight financial disparity begs the question, why did he choose Mets when he liked being a Yankee? Soto is very close with his family, and the Mets are developing a rep as very welcoming to player families. This is Alex Cohen’s purview. I heard it was a factor,” reported Andy Martino of SNY.
Following the signing of Juan Soto, the Mets trail only the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers as the betting favorites to win the World Series in 2025.