New York Mets

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, New York Knicks guard Josh Hart and MLB fans across the nation reacted to superstar outfielder Juan Soto agreeing to a deal with the New York Mets in free agency. per ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Soto will sign a 15-year, $765 million contract to join the Mets, marking the largest contract in professional sports history. The deal is free of deferments and contains escalators that could push the total value above $800 million, according to Passan.

Mets and MLB fans alike rushed to social media to share their reactions to the record-breaking contract:

In his only season with the Yankees last year, Soto was voted to the AL All-Star team as a starter, posting a .288/.419/.569 slash line with a career-high 41 homers.

The 26-year-old eclipsed Shohei Ohtani's groundbreaking 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, signed at the start of last season. His $750 million contract is also more than double that of former Yankee teammate Aaron Judge's record-setting $360 million deal from two years ago, per New York Post's Jon Heyman.

After a weeks-long battle between several teams, the race came down to the Yankees, Mets, Boston Red Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays. Soto kept MLB fans on the edge of their seats, letting each team outbid the others as fans kept their fingers crossed.

On Saturday night, Heyman reported that both the Yankees and Mets increased their offers, creating some distance between themselves and the other teams as clear frontrunners. Following several successful meetings between Soto, Mets owner Steve Cohen and team president David Stearns, the Mets emerged as strong contenders, per Heyman.

Now, the deal is finalized after much fan anxiety and a monumental, groundbreaking contract.

After an intense bidding war for star outfielder Juan Soto, the New York Mets triumphed over several other contending teams.

The New York Mets and Soto agreed to a 15-year, $765 contract. The outstanding deal is the largest in professional sports history, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan

The Mets currently have a projected payroll of $182.2 million for the 2025 season, according to Spotrac. With the addition of Soto, that figure is expected to rise by an average of $51 million.

Potential Batting Order

1. SS Francisco Lindor
2. RF Juan Soto
3. 1B Mark Vientos
4. LF Brandon Nimmo
5. DH Starling Marte
6. C Francisco Alvarez 
7. 2B Jeff McNeil
8. CF Jose Siri
9. 3B Brett Baty

MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported that Soto's contract includes an opt-out after year five.

After spending just one year in The Bronx, he is moving across town to Queens. With the Yankees last season, Soto was voted to the AL All-Star team as a starter and hit .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 homers.

The 26-year-old joins Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout as the only other current players with contracts surpassing $400 million, with Soto's deal greatly exceeding both of theirs.

The hype around Soto is nothing new as he previously turned down a 15-year, $440 million extension with the Washington Nationals in 2022 that prompted the organization to trade him to San Diego. That contract would have been the richest in MLB history by total value at the time.

Prior to Soto signing with the Mets, shortstop Lindor boasted the highest salary, signing a ten-year, $341 million contract in 2022.

The New York Yankees reportedly came up just short in their bid to retain star slugger Juan Soto.

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Yankees offered Soto a 16-year, $760 million deal before he ultimately agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets on Sunday, which set the record for the largest deal in professional sports history.

ESPN's Jeff Passan noted that Soto's deal with the Mets includes no deferments and has escalators that can push it above $800 million.

Losing Soto to the crosstown team after one season undoubtedly stings for the Yankees, who reached the World Series for the first time since their last title win in 2009 but fell short in five games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was just a year ago that the Yankees sent pitchers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka to the San Diego Padres to acquire Soto and outfielder Trent Grisham.

In his lone season in Pinstripes, Soto hit a career-high 41 home runs while batting .288 and adding 109 RBI. He continued his steady production in the postseason with a .327 batting average, four homers and nine RBI. He had one of the most memorable moments of the playoffs with his go-ahead home run against the Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the ALCS.

After losing Soto, the Yankees will have a major hole to fill in their lineup. Star outfielder and 2024 AL MVP Aaron Judge will be counted on even more to lead the team, though he will surely miss having Soto batting in front of him.

Still, it sounds like the Yankees did everything they could to try to retain Soto, but the Mets simply won out with a more lucrative offer.

Both the New York Yankees and New York Mets have increased their offers to superstar slugger Juan Soto into the $710 million to $730 million range, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman.

The two franchises remain part of a five-team battle for Soto as they work on offering him a contract in MLB record-setting territory.

Both bids surpass Shohei Ohtani's record-breaking $700 million deal. As of Saturday, the Mets' offer may be slightly higher than the Yankees, per Heyman, though "the respective offers appear to be within shouting distance."

The Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers are still very much in the running, with the possibility that they could surpass the New York teams in the bidding to land the 26-year-old, per Heyman.

The Red Sox and Blue Jays are also reported to have made highly competitive offers, while the Dodgers, despite not needing another superstar, surprised many by submitting a bid exceeding $600 million. According to Heyman, they are not as likely to land Soto as other destinations.

The Yankees have leverage by offering two-time MVP Aaron Judge as a teammate to Soto. However, the Mets remain strong contenders, especially after a successful meeting between Soto, Mets owner Steve Cohen and team president David Stearns, according to Heyman.

If Soto signs for exactly $720 million, it would be double Judge's previous record-setting $360 million deal, which was signed just two years ago, per Heyman.

The New York Mets are remaining very active in the pitching market in free agency.

The franchise signed Clay Holmes to a three-year, $38 million contract on Friday and will transition him to a starting role. This comes just a week after signing starter Frankie Montas.

While that is already two big additions to the rotation, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that the team has "checked in" on pitchers Jack Flaherty and Nick Pivetta and have shown interest in Nathan Eovaldi and Walker Buehler.

Kodai Senga and David Peterson are the returning pitchers set to be in the rotation while Tylor Megill and Paul Blackburn could feature in the bullpen and fill in as starters with injuries. Holmes and Montas take up two more spots but adding another strong arm could really bolster the rotation.

Flaherty went 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA in 2024, splitting the season between the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers. Rosenthal and Sammon reported that he is looking for a lengthier contract and that Pivetta would be more of a mid-term option.

"It's expected Flaherty will land a contract in the range of four to six years, league sources said, whereas Pivetta seems positioned to net a three-year or four-year deal," Rosenthal and Sammon wrote.

Pivetta went 6-12 with a 4.14 ERA in 2024 with the Boston Red Sox in 2024 while Eovaldi went 12-8 with a 3.80 ERA for the Texas Rangers.

Buehler had an injury-riddled season and went 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA. However, he had a strong postseason for the Dodgers and also is a two-time All Star.

The Mets went 89-73 and reached the NLCS in 2024. Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea were the team's top pitchers but Severino signed with the Athletics while Quintana and Manaea are currently free agents.

The New York Mets have bolstered their rotation this week by signing Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes in free agency.

The Mets signed Montas to a two-year, $34 million deal with an opt-out after 2025 on Wednesday, per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

New York then added Holmes on a three-year, $38 contract with an opt-out after 2026, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported on Friday.

The Mets had just over $140 million in current 2025 payroll allocations, and $168 in projected total allocations, prior to signing Holmes, according to Spotrac.

Holmes is projected to take on a starting role with the Mets as the team works to rebuild its rotation following the departures of Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and José Quintana in free agency.

Kodai Senga is currently set to lead the rotation for a second straight season, while Montas, Holmes, Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Paul Blackburn will compete for spots behind him.

Mets' Projected 2025 Rotation

1. Kodai Senga
2. Frankie Montas
3. Clay Holmes
4. David Peterson
5. Paul Blackburn
6. Tyler Megill

The Mets are also preparing for the arrival of top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat. The right-hander was named the Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year after finishing the 2024 season as one of the top 40 prospects in baseball.

New York may still want to bolster this rotation with an experienced starter in a trade or free agency.

The good news is that the Mets have the salary to sign another starter. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns noted at the end of the 2024 season that his club had "financial flexibility" heading into the winter.

"It means that pretty much the entirety of the player universe is potentially accessible to us," Stearns said.

The Mets ended the season with more than $356 million on the 2024 payroll including luxury taxes, but with just about $150 million committed for 2025, per SNY's Danny Abriano.

How much salary the Mets could potentially use to add another starting pitcher will depend in large part on what decision Juan Soto makes in free agency.

The club, alongside the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, is one of the reported finalists to sign the star outfielder in free agency.

Soto could potentially earn a record-setting $700 million in free agency. Should they win the bidding war, the Mets would be limited in their pursuit of other free-agent pitchers going forward. That would leave this projected rotation, led by Senga and potentially later joined by Sproat, as the blueprint for the 2025 season.

The New York Mets and ex-New York Yankees closer Clay Holmes have agreed to a three-year, $38 million contract pending a physical, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

The Mets will try to use Holmes as a starting pitcher, according to Sherman. If that plan falls through, then he will become the setup man for closer Edwin Díaz.

Holmes, who is entering his age-32 season, went 3-5 with a 3.14 ERA (1.30 WHIP) and 30 saves in 67 games last year. However, Holmes also blew 13 saves and lost his closer job to Luke Weaver.

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Holmes out of Slocomb (Alabama) High School with a ninth-round pick in the 2011 MLB draft. Holmes was a starter in the minors for nearly his entire tenure in the farm system, going 42-29 with a 3.63 ERA (1.39 WHIP) and 7.3 K/9 rate over 134 games (114 starts).

Holmes has only started four games in the majors, all in his 2018 rookie season. He posted a 7.80 ERA in those matchups.

It didn't work out for Holmes in Pittsburgh, who traded the right-hander to the Yankees in July 2021. But he's been lights-out at times in the Bronx.

Over 220 appearances from 2021-2024, Holmes had a 2.20 ERA (1.12 WHIP) and 9.8 K/9 rate. He was especially impressive in the playoffs with a 1.35 ERA over 19 games.

Holmes certainly had his struggles in high-leverage situations, to the point where he lost his closer job. But he wildly exceeded expectations after the July 2021 deal and parlayed it into a lucrative contract.

However, there's a massive question mark about whether the Mets can turn him into a starter, where he hasn't found success in the big leagues.

New York, of course, was able to patch together a good rotation last season after signing Sean Manaea and Luis Severino on one-year deals. Those two led a staff that found itself in the NLCS.

It appears the Mets might be doing the same in 2025, signing pitchers on lower-cost contracts and hoping for big returns. They've already signed Frankie Montas (4.84 ERA in 30 starts in 2024) to a two-year, $34 million deal and the now-starter Holmes as well.

We'll see if the experiment works out, but the Mets do have an eighth-inning fallback plan with Holmes in case it doesn't.

After a one-season stint with the New York Mets, Luis Severino is heading to a new team.

The starting pitcher reportedly agreed to a three-year, $67 million contract with the Athletics, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Passan reported the contract includes "the largest guarantee" in franchise history, noting Severino "got well over market expectations."

Severino confirmed the news of his departure from New York on social media, thanking the Mets staff, front office and the fans for their support during the 2024 season:

Severino put together a solid year after a handful of injury-ridden seasons. He had 32 regular-season appearances, throwing 161 strikeouts with a 3.91 ERA and 1.24 WHIP across 182 innings.

In the postseason, Severino led the Mets to an 8-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series, pitching six innings in the win and picking up three strikeouts and allowing three earned runs.

Against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, he had seven strikeouts and three earned runs across six innings as New York lost 7-6. In his final appearance of the 2024 postseason, he gave up three hits and two runs while recording three strikeouts across 4.2 innings in an 8-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Severino spent the first eight MLB seasons with the New York Yankees, posting 638 innings with a 3.39 ERA and 709 strikeouts against 181 walks through his first seven years before struggling in 2023 with a 6.65 ERA and 1.65 WHIP, both numbers being the worst of his career.

While his time with the Mets was short, Severino managed to find his stride after dealing with injuries for much of the last few years. Now with the Athletics, he'll look to have another strong year.

After signing starting pitcher Frankie Montas to a two-year deal on Sunday, the New York Mets reportedly aren't done pursuing improvements for their starting rotation.

According to Will Sammon of The Athletic, the Mets "have some interest in Walker Buehler" and are "also one of the teams that have talked with Michael Soroka about competing in spring training for a starter job."

Buehler is coming off helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win a World Series title by defeating the New York Yankees in five games. After a disappointing regular season and a rough start to the playoffs, he bounced back by pitching 10 scoreless innings over his final three appearances, including closing out Game 5 against the Yankees on one day of rest to clinch the title for the Dodgers.

Soroka endured a disastrous season with the Chicago White Sox, as he posted a 0-10 record in 25 appearances with nine starts. He had a 4.74 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, but his 84 strikeouts were the second-most of his career.

Sammon noted that the Mets "have cast a wide net regarding other potential options," and he named starters Griffin Canning and Patrick Sandoval as "other names to keep in mind in the future." Still, New York won't end its search there.

"And that's just a few free-agent options. There are more. And other potential paths exist in the trade market," Sammon added.

The Mets made an impressive run to the NLCS and pushed the Dodgers to six games, so this offseason will be crucial toward their chances of maintaining their status as title contenders in 2025. New York's starting rotation currently consists of Montas, Kodai Senga and David Peterson, so the team will need to add a few more reliable arms if it wants to achieve success next season.