The New York Mets are a franchise starved for a championship. And under the current ownership of Steve Cohen, money has become no object.
Since Cohen bought the team in 2020, the Mets have quickly become the highest-payroll team in Major League Baseball. They've spent far over the luxury tax each of the past four seasons, and appear poised to keep adding to the balance sheet in pursuit of a World Series ring.
The signature contract of the Cohen era thus far, which was finalized the same offseason the billionaire bought the club, was the 10-year, $341-million deal handed to superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor. Now, Lindor himself wants the Mets to go bigger.
With 25-year-old future Hall-of-Famer Juan Soto hitting the market this offseason, Lindor made his pitch to the Mets' higher-ups to sign Soto away from the crosstown rival New York Yankees.
"When it comes to the outfielder from across our borough, he's having a fantastic year and I hope he goes out there and breaks every record out there when it comes to getting paid," Lindor said, via Jeff Passan of ESPN. "If it's with us, it'll be fantastic. He'll help us a lot."
In the same article containing the above quote, Passan reported that Soto will command a minimum of $500 million this winter, with the bidding expected to skyrocket even higher. And Passan expects the Mets and Yankees to be the final two teams bidding on Soto at the end.
"The Yankees cannot lose Soto. If they win their first championship since 2009, they can't possibly let him go, and if they lose early in the postseason they'll panic about how much worse it would be without him. Yet there stand the Mets, themselves in need of a middle-of-the-order bat, owned by a man in Steve Cohen who understands data better than any of his peers," Passan said.
If Lindor has his way, Soto will make his way across the city to Flushing in 2025. But there are lots of pitches from both sides still forthcoming.
It is shaping up to be an enthralling battle for the top free agent ever to hit the market at such a young age. And clearly, the Mets are not to be counted out.
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