In the Aftermath, Competitors' Managers Show Respect for Juan Soto's Skills and Fresh Agreement
The $1.12 billion, 15-year agreement that Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets, following his single season with the Yankees, is causing a stir in the baseball community, particularly among followers of both the Mets and Yankees.
This theme was also brought up during discussions between various non-New York managers with journalists during the winter meetings on Monday.
Besides Carlos Mendoza, who has the potential to regularly include Soto in the lineup, 18 other managers shared their thoughts. While most conversations revolved around their teams' transactions and review of the previous season, talks about Soto crept into several manager's press meetings.
Mendoza was wary since the agreement was not yet official as of Monday afternoon, but other managers offered candid insights.
Among them was Alex Cora, who envisioned Soto as a powerful 1-2 left-handed duo with Rafael Devers, potentially giving Gerrit Cole more sleepless nights.
The Red Sox were reportedly in the third spot behind the Yankees, willing to meet Soto's price up to a certain point, before the Mets sealed the deal.
Cora, however, found joy in the pursuit despite the uncertainty being stressful for his front-office colleagues.
“I can't go into the details, right, but from my end, it was enjoyable,” Cora said. “It was enjoyable in a way, you know, to meet new people, players of that caliber. It's incredible.
The kid, he gets it. He gets it. Let me put it that way. Obviously, I always have fun with the group that represents him. You guys know how I feel about them, but it was a good experience, and I learned a lot. I learned a lot.”
Before hitting 41 homers for Aaron Boone and then the decisive hit to clinch the ALCS, Soto spent the past year and a half with Bob Melvin and the San Diego Padres, who followed their NLCS appearance with 82 wins in 2023 and subsequently replaced Melvin with Mike Shildt.
Shildt's comments reflected his appreciation for the industry's ability to offer substantial contracts.
“Good for Juan,” Shildt said in his remarks, also mentioning daytime TV's Judge Judy making $47 million per year. “That's my initial response. Good for him. That's the beautiful thing about our industry is it's a free agent. He's able to negotiate. It says a lot of positive things about our industry.”
Melvin, now in his second season with the San Francisco Giants, acknowledged Soto's impending financial windfall given his youth and impressive performance in San Diego following a trade from the Nationals.
“It's phenomenal,” Melvin said. “I mean, for him, I'm happy for him. I got to know him pretty well in San Diego. This was a year that he was setting himself up for this type of deal. I don't know that anybody could have really predicted what the number would be, but if anybody is going to get money like that, it's going to be Juan. He's one of the premiere players in the game.”
Perhaps no current manager knows Soto better than Dave Martinez, who managed him for his entire stint in Washington and watched him hit four homers in the 2019 World Series against Cole and the Astros.
Martinez recognized early on that Soto had the potential to become a star, if not one with a contract of this magnitude.
“The one thing that I always remember about him, the first conversation I had, the first thing that came out of his mouth when I asked him what motivates him, what drives him, and he just came out and said, I love baseball,” Martinez said. “Truly you can see it in him. He loves playing the game.”
Most managers expressed awe and admiration for Soto's talent.
“This is a deal where there's 30 clubs and they're all trying to win,” Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy said. “They're all trying to do whatever it takes legally to do it.
So when it gets to that kind of stuff, I can't relate, but it just reminds you like this is the greatest league in the world. I'm privileged to be part of it.”
Torey Lovullo cited the deal as motivation for the Diamondbacks to improve while acknowledging the impressive statistics.
“I think Soto is on a different level than the rest of the league at times. I mean, 41 home runs, the OPS. The numbers that he has are not fluky. It is because he has an extraordinary ability to impact the baseball, and he understands what each at-bat asks for.”
Finally, there were pragmatic responses, such as John Schneider discussing the Blue Jays' efforts to improve after missing out on Shohei Ohtani and Soto in consecutive years, particularly after the team finished its first losing season since 2019, when they began integrating Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette.
“You try to move forward and try to make your team better, but I think the fact that we're in it as much as we have been the last two years is exciting,” Schneider said. “You have to kind of move on and hopefully make your team better another way.”
Following a brief chat about Soto's record-breaking agreement with a billionaire-backed team, the other managers will spend the remainder of their time in Dallas collaborating with their front offices to enhance their squads. Eventually, they'll shift their focus to formulating strategies to convince Soto and devise a plan to outsmart him.
Scott Boras, Soto's agent, might find himself in negotiations with the Boston Red Sox next time, given their interest in Soto before the Mets secured the deal.
Shohei Ohtani, another Boras client, could potentially share some advice with Soto about managing his newfound fame and wealth, as he has navigated a unique dual-role as both a pitcher and hitter in the MLB.
The San Diego Padres, under manager Mike Shildt, might be looking to strengthen their roster in other areas now that they've lost Soto to a record-breaking deal with the Mets.
