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Mets president David Stearns was forecasting the Juan Soto signing long before the deal went through in December.
Stearns revealed his plans in the first half of “The Pursuit,” a two-part documentary released by the Mets organization detailing the acquisition of Soto in free agency, along with the team’s turnaround during the 2024 season. The first part releases Friday on the Mets’ YouTube channel.
“I think Juan Soto has been on all of our radars for a long time,” Stearns said. “You knew that eventually that the day would come that Soto will become available to all thirty teams in Major League Baseball.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen concurred, saying that he and Stearns had been eying Soto since Stearns took over as the team president after the 2023 season.
“I actually think that it started right at the beginning when David and I met,” Cohen said. “We discussed Juan as a possibility when and if he became available.”
The Yankees were first able to land Soto in a trade with the Padres, but now he belongs to the other New York team — and it wasn’t just the record $765 million offer that sold the slugger.
Stearns shared how management catered to Soto throughout the negotiation process, noting how the team utilized videos of Citi Field to appeal to the four-time All-Star.
“One of the things that we tried to do was to customize and individualize videos together for high-target free agents and players we want to understand what we are about and what we could be about for them,” Stearns said. “Our team internally did a great job putting together a video showing Juan what his future with the Mets could be like.”
In addition to the baseball part of it, the Mets also emphasized the importance of playing for the fans and creating a family atmosphere within the squad.
That was likely of importance to Soto, who reportedly asked for a suite from the Yankees — and was denied.
The Mets’ magical fall run to the NLCS was powered by a group that became more close-knit as the season wore on.
“Around May and June, we all started to buy in around this organic ‘OMG’ thing,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “We had a meeting where J.D. [Martinez] talked about how we all needed to go back to having fun.”
Mets players also opened up about the team’s early woes and how they found success later in the season, pinpointing a two-game split with the Phillies in early June when the NL East rivals played abroad.
“I think the biggest catalyst over the course of the year was definitely London,” first baseman Pete Alonso said. “I think London served as a bonding experience for everybody.”
Part two of “The Pursuit” is set to release on Friday, Mar. 21 exclusively on the Mets’ YouTube channel.