Juan Soto wanted to know just how much success his prospective new team patriarch expected if he signed with the Mets.
This was during one of the two lunch meetings Soto had with Steve Cohen during the All-Star outfielder’s free-agency tour over the last month.
The expectation would be to win, Soto understood, but to what degree over the next 10 years?
Cohen told Soto he would like to win two to four World Series titles over the next decade.
Soto respected what he heard.
“I feel that is what it’s all about, why you play baseball — to be a championship player and win as many as you can,” Soto said Thursday at Citi Field, where he donned his No. 22 Mets jersey for the first time after signing an historic contract with the club. “At the end of the day, you can have all this stuff, but if you don’t win it’s kind of hard.”
Soto, 26, received a record 15-year deal worth $765 million that includes an opt-out after the fifth season. The contract also includes a $75 million signing bonus and is without deferrals.
The Mets can nullify Soto’s opt-out by agreeing to raise his AAV from $51 million to $55 million following the 2029 season.
The deal also includes bonuses for winning the MVP award.
Soto, who was also heavily pursued by the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Dodgers, said he faced a tough decision in what he termed a stressful process at times and wasn’t sure which offer to accept until the end.
In his one season with the Yankees, he hit a career-high 41 homers and helped the team reach the World Series.
The Yankees offered $760 million over 16 years.
“They did everything in their power to help me out, to bring me back,” Soto said. “I had four other teams trying to do the same thing and in trying to make me feel comfortable. At the end, we looked at everything, we looked at the chances and looked at what everybody wants to do for the next 15 years and I think we have the best chance to do it over here.”
Cohen has long coveted Soto.
So much so that president of baseball operations David Stearns acknowledged that Soto’s free agency this winter was discussed by Cohen as he was courting Stearns in the summer of 2023 to head the Mets’ front office.
“We talked about some of the generational players in our game and the difficulty of accessing some of those generational players and certainly Juan is one of them,” Stearns said. “You never know exactly where this is going to go and if he’s going to get a [contract] extension of some sort, but we did know if he was going to be a free agent, we were going to make a very strong push.”
Cohen had his doubts the deal would materialize — even after he had agreed to provide a luxury suite for Soto’s family. It wasn’t until hours before the news broke Sunday night that Soto was headed to the Mets that Cohen knew he had his man.
“If you want something that is amazing, it’s going to be uncomfortable,” Cohen said, referring to Soto’s contract. “I always stretch a little bit because I know what it takes to get it done.”
The Mets have a cornerstone to team with Francisco Lindor in a giant leap for New York’s National League franchise that has for decades played in the shadow of the Yankees.
Soto was asked if his arrival to Queens signifies that New York belongs to the Mets.
“It’s been a Mets town for a long time, so I think we have just got to bring it to the top,” Soto said. “Championships is going to tell you whether it’s a Yankees or Mets town.”
Stearns said the franchise’s future was a significant topic in his conversations with Soto before he signed.
“We talked a lot about roster building and the young talent that we have coming,” Stearns said. “And our ability to continuously supplement our major league team with ownership resources while also investing heavily in the minor league system. Juan has certainly been around enough organizations and around the league that he’s got a pretty good feel of what leads to sustainable competitiveness.”