Juan Soto's Rumored $765M Mets Contract Tops Orioles, Pirates Payroll for 8, 10 Years
December 9, 2024
Star outfielder Juan Soto's historic contract with the New York Mets shined a light on the discrepancy between big-city franchises and smaller-market teams.
For example, Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun determined that Soto's 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets exceeds the Baltimore Orioles' payroll for the past eight years:
Going even further, radio host Josh Rowntree found that Soto's deal is larger than the entire Pittsburgh Pirates payroll for the last decade:
Josh Rowntree @JRown32The Mets just committed more money to Juan Soto ($765 million) than the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pirates?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pirates</a> have committed to their entire payroll over the last 10 years ($757 million). <br><br>Unfortunate for fans of small market teams that this type of imbalance is allowed to happen.
ESPN's Jeff Passan noted that Soto's contract can reach above $800 million with escalators and contains no deferments. His deal is the largest in professional sports history.
Soto earned the record-breaking contract following his special season with the New York Yankees in which he hit a career-high 41 home runs while batting .288 and adding 109 RBI. He helped lead the team to its first World Series appearance since 2009, hitting .327 with four homers and nine RBI in the playoffs.
It will be rare for another player of Soto's caliber to hit the open market in the future, but it can be expected that smaller-market teams will continue to be at a disadvantage while other teams shell out massive amounts of cash to land the free agent of their desires.
