By Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – Juan Soto said on Thursday he was looking to establish a Major League Baseball (MLB) dynasty with the New York Mets after the 26-year-old signed a record-breaking 15-year, $765-million contract with the team.
Soto’s lofty ambitions are in line with those of team owner Steve Cohen, who has sought to bring a winning culture to the ball club since acquiring it four years ago.
“The Mets are a great organization,” Soto said during an introductory press conference at Citi Field in Queens.
“What they have done in the past couple of years, showing all the ability to keep winning, to keep growing a team, to try to grow a dynasty is one of the most important things,” he said.
“What you were seeing from the other side was unbelievable. And the buzz and everything on the field and the future that this team has had a lot to do with my decision.”
He said seeing how hungry the team was to win a championship put them over the top in the Soto sweepstakes, which saw the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers all reportedly vying for his services.
Mets fans are eager to see their team end a World Series championship drought that stretches back to 1986 with the help of four-time All-Star Soto, one of his generation’s finest hitters who helped to lead the Washington Nationals to a title in 2019.
The Mets made a surprise run to the National League Championship Series last season and their success in luring Soto away from the Yankees also came as something of a surprise, even to Cohen.
“This was a competitive process, there were many teams involved and it was hard to know where you stood,” he said.
“It was a moving target. Things were changing by the day so there were moments when you start questioning whether you are going to be successful. But in the end I got the call I wanted.”
Cohen said the Dominican slugger would speed up the team’s timeline for reaching the MLB mountaintop but said his bigger goal was to change the perception of the club, which has long existed in the shadow of their crosstown rivals, the Yankees.
“It’s obviously a huge move… and it accelerates our goal of winning championships,” Cohen said.
“But, more important, my goal was to change how the Mets were viewed and I think we’re on the path to changing that… my goal is that the Met are going to be a premier team, one of the elite teams, in Major League Baseball.”
Soto enjoyed a career year with the Yankees last season as he set career highs in a number of categories including runs, hits, home runs, total bases and extra-base hits.
The left-handed hitter is expected to bat second and play right field for the Mets next season.
His freshly signed contract is the biggest in MLB history, eclipsing the 10-year, $700-million pact the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to last winter.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; editing by Clare Fallon)
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