The losers in the Juan Soto sweepstakes simply couldn’t match what Mets owner Steve Cohen was willing to pony up for the big prize.
After The Post first reported that Soto was headed to the Mets in the richest contract in baseball history, other teams’ offers have trickled out from the bidding war.
Sean McAdam of Mass Live reported that the best and final offer from the Red Sox was 15 years and $700 million, an average value of $46.67 million per season.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ final offer came in at $600 million for Soto, The Athletic reported,
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner did his best to compete with the Mets’ offer with The Post’s Jon Heyman reporting that they offered a 16-year, $760 million deal for Soto.
It is not yet clear what the Blue Jays’ offer was for Soto, although it would appear they were in the sweepstakes for much of the final weekend.
The extra year and $5 million less overall comes out to a $47.5 million average salary, a bit below the Mets’ $51 million average salary.
Mets owner Steve Cohen has now dished out the biggest contract in sports history.
Soto will be 41 years old when the contract is completed, although he can opt out of the deal after five years.
There is a clause in the deal that the Mets can void that opt-out for Soto if they bump up the average salary after year five to $55 million, thus making the total contract worth more than $800 million.
Follow The Post’s coverage of Juan Soto’s historic megadeal with the Mets:
- Juan Soto signing with Mets on gargantuan $765 million contract as Yankees miss out
- Heyman: Steve Cohen wasn’t going to let anything stop his high-priced Juan Soto pursuit
- Juan Soto doused with beer in hot tub as he celebrates historic Mets deal
- Sherman: Hal Steinbrenner still can’t escape the ghost of his father after Yankees’ Juan Soto miss
The losing teams in the Soto sweepstakes are now expected to go to battle again for outfielder Teoscar Hernandez and pitching studs Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.
Hernandez had previously expressed his desire to re-sign with the Dodgers, but now that the Red Sox and Yankees missing out on Soto, his market certainly just began heating up.
The Dodgers also signed Michael Conforto to a one-year, $17 million deal on Sunday night in a sign they may move on from Hernandez.
Hernandez, as a consolation prize, isn’t too bad for disappointed teams as he had a career-high 33 home runs to go with 99 RBIs while playing in a loaded Dodgers lineup.
