NY Mets and utfielder, Juan Soto agree to record-shattering 15-year contract worth $765 million deal.
Finally! Juan Soto has found his permanent home – thanks to a stupendous and record-setting contract commitment from the New York Mets.
Soto and the New York Mets agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract Sunday night, the biggest contract in sports history and making Soto the highest-paid player in baseball by almost every measure.
The total and current value of his contract exceeds that of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, who signed a heavily-deferred 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers one year ago. Soto's $51 million average annual value is a record for a baseball player, as it contains no deferred money.
The Yankees, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, offered $760 million for 16 years, close in total value but with an average annual of $47.5 million.
Soto, 26, was in high demand from Major League Baseball’s usual coterie of big-revenue, big-spending teams, and the Yankees had at least the advantage of familiarity after Soto’s one year in the Bronx resulted in 41 home runs, a .989 OPS and a run to their first World Series appearance since 2009.
Soto's $51 million annual salary exceeds the present value of Ohtani's deal, which the MLB Players' Association valued at $46 million since $680 million of it is deferred. It's rarefied air for a yearly salary, occupied only by the likes of Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, whose current four-year, $215 million deal carries an average annual value of $53.8 million.
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