On Sunday evening, news broke that Juan Soto was signing the largest deal in professional sports history to join the New York Mets.
A 15-year contract worth $765 million that has had everyone talking – including two USMNT legends in Landon Donovan and Tim Howard.
Speaking on their joint-podcast ‘Unfiltered Soccer’ the two expressed their shock and confusion at the numbers around the deal as Soto swaps the Bronx for Queens.
“The New York Mets decided to spend $765 million dollars on a 15-year contract for Juan Soto,” Donovan explained to his largely soccer-centric audience.
“No deferred money unlike the Dodgers with (Shohei) Ohtani. $75m signing bonus, might be able to buy himself a car or something. Just crazy.”
Howard was incredulous at the numbers, almost as much as the Yankees fans burning their Soto shirts.
“Look, I want feedback, give us your feedback because I need some staunch baseball fans to weigh in here.
“15 years, three-quarters of a billion dollars. I’m almost better with the money than the years. I don’t understand it.
“I know Alex Rodriguez back when signed like a 13-year deal, but I don’t understand the length of these contracts.
“Because Juan Soto, if I’m correct, is probably not giving you 15 years of good service. I hope that’s not blasphemous. But who can you commit to giving you 15 years of production?
“I know there’s an opt-out but the numbers make you dizzy. All I can think about is Bobby Bonilla until 2035 is getting a million per year.
“So here’s the thing – three takeaways. It’s good to be Bobby Bonilla, it’s good to be Juan Soto and it’s really good to be Scott Boras who’s his mega-agent. And I guess it’s great to be in the New York market, there’s going to be some big hitters.
“The Mets and the Yankees showed this year that they’re back, but it’s fun. I think it’s fun. I would have liked for him to stay at the Yankees but it’s a lot of fun.”
The Mets reached the NLDS this year for the first time since 2015 and as they look to build for a real World Series push, they’ve landed a hammer blow to their cross-town rivals.
Already a four-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, batting champion, Home Run Derby champion and World Series champion, if someone is worth these eye-watering figures then it might be Soto.
The Yankees pushed hard to resign the 26-year-old, offering a 16-year deal worth $760 million but after weeks of meetings and negotiations, Soto opted for the Mets and a record setting deal.
While Donovan never received that level of contract in his legendary MLS days, he was able to share unique insight from the athletes perspective around these types of negotiations.
“Here’s the thing,” a bemused Donovan continued. “When you get to these levels of wealth does it really matter if it’s $736m or 765m?
“You have to assume that every team in the running got somewhere close to 765. Maybe it was 650, maybe it was 700. I don’t know if the years even matter, if there’s someone who’s really into baseball let us know.
“But if you’re a club, why are you committing 15 years? But then the reality is that Juan Soto had all the power, all the leverage, and these things are always about leverage.
“When I was doing my last deal with the Galaxy, I knew I was only playing a few more years, they knew I was only playing a few more years so we were wrestling back and forth a little bit, is it $2.5m, is it $3m?
“But they know I’m only playing a few more years so I had some leverage but they knew I wasn’t going anywhere. I’m not going to leave and go play in Spain for the last year of my career, they knew I loved it there.
“So there’s a respect factor of not taking advantage of that but they had some leverage, I had some leverage. Juan Soto had all the leverage.
“My question for him – and I don’t begrudge anybody getting their money, get your money – but they had a good thing going with the Yankees, they could have been good forever. I don’t know if the Mets will be good – but I don’t know if he cares!”