New York Mets Owner Steve Cohen kept his promise.
Shortly after purchasing the club in August 2020, the hedge fund billionaire made several pledges to the Flushing fanbase he’d inherited. They included a desire to win above all else, the objective of winning a World Series early on in his tenure, and an aspiration to mimic the success of the Los Angeles Dodgers. That second goal earned the Queens-centered club the “East Coast Dodgers,” nickname.
Cohen talked big. He talked loud. And while he’s yet to win a World Series or even beat the Dodgers at their own game, he’s done the next best thing: He’s signed Juan Soto to a history-making, 15-year, $765 million contract that’ll lure the Latin legend away from the Bronx and across the Throgs Neck Bridge to Queens.
Signing Soto, a four-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, and player worthy of comparison to Ted Williams, is a monumental moment in Mets’ history — One that signals Cohen meant what he said. He isn’t in this for kicks. He’s not showing off the club to his billionaire buddies while doing the bare minimum.
No. Cohen loves the New York Mets. He grew up a fan, born and raised in Great Neck, New York, and bathed in the glow of the franchise’s first heroes like Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Casey Stengel, and Cleon Jones. And now, as an adult, he’s finally delivering a long-held dream not just to himself but to the millions of Mets fans from around the globe.
But signing Soto doesn’t guarantee Cohen or the Mets much of anything. There’s an offseason to finish, a season to start, and at least four more before Soto can opt out of this contract. And each comes with zero promises that fate will award Cohen what he seeks. To stand alone on the mountaintop, the Mets must do more — Must spend more, trade more, draft more. And that’s because this isn’t a complete team.
This offseason, the Mets have 12 free agents. These include relievers Alex Young, Adam Ottavino, and Drew Smith. Small fish that can be attended to or left alone now that the bass is aboard. Others, however, are walleyes. First baseman and franchise pillar Pete Alonso is the biggest name of the bunch, yet the other also command respect. Starters Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana were two of their best starters. Potentially losing both could leave a sharp exit wound. Even Jose Iglesias merits the comparison to a mackerel for creating the “OMG” anthem, delivering late-game heroics, and helping transform the Mets’ into a club worthy of Soto’s talents.
Soto is a star — Among the brightest in baseball. But he alone can’t band-aid over these holes. Cohen and Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns knows that. So don’t be surprised when they make more moves. Work’s already begun on that front thanks to the signings of other former Yankees pitchers, Frankie Montas Jr. and Clay Holmes. Yet it can’t end there.
For some teams, it would. They’d have too little money and not enough drive. The Mets, though, still have wiggle room after shedding the salaries of their free agents and the leftover money from Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, James McCann, and Omar Narváez’s contracts. For perspective, the Mets’ Opening Day payroll in 2024 was $328 million. According to BP’s Cot’s Baseball Contracts, their projected Opening Day payroll for 2025 is $235 million. For the Mets to match last season’s number, they’d have to spend $93 million this offseason.
The bottom line is this: At the least, the Mets are only getting started. Baseball could be Cohen and Stearns’ sandbox over the coming years, one in which they attempt to sculpt the Mets into the image of what the former envisioned four years ago.
Not every decision will be easy moving forward. One of the elements the Mets need to maneuver around moving forward is what to do with their minor leaguers. Fangraphs currently grades the club’s farm system as seventh-best in baseball. MLB Pipeline felt differently, ranking them 13th, but they also acknowledge the club has four of what they consider baseball’s Top 100 prospects. They include Brandon Sproat, shortstop/outfielder Jett Williams, outfielder Drew Gilbert, and outfielder/first baseman Ryan Clifford.
Regardless of your site of choice, the Mets have a strong prospect pipeline. It’s arguably part of what set the Mets apart in negotiations over their crosstown rivals. They have youth, flexibility, and future options that the Yankees don’t. The only question is how many — if any — of these players will make their big league debut in the blue and orange.
This question is twofold: If the Mets want to better their roster now without 10 other forays into free agency, the trade market makes plenty of sense. Their number of position players aligns with the White Sox’s reported wishlist for All-Star Garrett Crochet. There could be a fit there or elsewhere.
The other part of this equation is if these players — the position players, to be more specific — have any room in the organization. Williams, one of the club’s highest-regarded prospects, is a shortstop by trade. That position, however, is occupied by Francisco Lindor and will be occupied by him until 2031. Williams can’t just move to the outfield, either. Soto will presumably play in right, and Brandon Nimmo, who has a long-term contract of his own, will probably man left as he did last season. Starling Marte will also rotate around the corner outfield now that his days as a center fielder seem over.
Center field is the only place left for Williams, but he’s not without his challengers. Gilbert has patrolled center for most of his career, playing 93 games there throughout three minor league seasons. Then, on the MLB side, the Mets already tout center fielders like Tyrone Taylor and Jose Siri. Taylor and Siri won’t be free agents until 2027. Neither Taylor nor Siri are world-beaters, but Taylor posted 1.2 fWAR with a 99 OPS+, and Siri was just traded for on November 19. The Mets won’t just easily discard either player.
Williams’ recourse could be to move elsewhere in the infield, yet that also comes with complications. Second base might belong to a combination of Luisangel Acuña, Jeff McNeil, and Ronny Mauricio. Third is home to Vientos, and even if he were to move to first should Alonso leave, Brett Baty, a former highly-regarded prospect in his own right, will serve as competition for the hot corner. And that’s before the potential return of Iglesias, who was invaluable. The Mets are in such a logjam that if Williams wanted to become a catcher for some reason, he’d be blocked by Francisco Alvarez.
The point here is the Mets are low on room for Williams, Gilbert, Clifford, and every other position-playing prospect. At some point, the organization will reach an inflection point. Do they ship off those we don’t deem necessary to their future to bolster the team now? Or do they strip back some of those veterans soon in pursuit of a more malleable payroll?
There’s no easy answer. Because razing a farm system is the exact thing a team aspiring to be like the Dodgers shouldn’t do. Yet, to compete with the Boys in Blue and their band of superstars, doing so might be necessary. It’s a hard judgment call to make for Cohen and Stearns. But it, and everything else, is the least of their worries right now.
The hard part is done: Juan Soto is a New York Met. Take a second. Stop and think about that.
New York still has much more to do: A rotation to rebuild, a bullpen to remodel, and a lineup to complete. But Soto is a Met, and Cohen kept his promise. Cohen dreamt of this as a child — Of turning his boyhood team into baseball’s terror.
Now, thanks to Soto, he might see it become a reality.