The rumors of the New York Mets’ interest in signing Juan Soto during his upcoming free agency are “getting louder,” according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
The New York Yankees acquired the three-time All-Star in a December trade with the San Diego Padres, but have yet to extend Soto’s contract past the 2024 season.
Heyman expects Mets owner Steve Cohen to be in “spending mode” next offseason, and the team could potentially gain more than $86 million in cap space as they finish paying salary owed to traded pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
Soto led the MLB with 132 walks as he finished sixth in NL MVP voting with the Padres last season.
There are a few more reasons Heyman believes the Mets might be interested in acquiring Soto.
According to Heyman, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns “prefers free agents 28 and younger.” Soto turned 25 in October.
Another reason for the match is that the 2025 campaign will represent the fifth season since Cohen purchased the team for $2.4 billion in 2020.
“I believe Cohen truly wants to win, but he may want to win just a bit more in the fifth year of his tenure after saying at the start he hoped to win a World Series within the first five years,” Heyman wrote.
In his first press conference as team owner in 2020, Cohen made the 2025 season his deadline for a Mets championship.
“If we don’t win in the next three to five years, I’d consider that slightly disappointing,” Cohen said in 2020, per UPI.
Soto has so far turned down opportunities to directly address the possibility of signing an extension with the Yankees. During his introductory news conference with the team in November, he answered an extension question by saying the Yankees “know where to call and who to talk to,” according to ESPN’s David Schoenfield.
If Soto doesn’t sign an extension with the Yankees, his other options are limited by how much his next deal is expected to cost.
Soto’s next deal will likely be worth more than the 15-year, $440 million contract offer he turned down to stay with the Washington Nationals in 2022, according to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic.
Not every team can afford to offer the $500 million it may take to snag the World Series champion. If things don’t work out with the Yankees, the deep-pocketed Mets could be well-positioned to make him an offer next offseason.
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