NY Mets: Who Would Be A Perfect Fit For The Team, Shohei Ohtani Or Juan Soto?

Over the past week, the New York Mets have been linked to a number of high-profile trade options, with Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani emerging as the two players most frequently mentioned.

The Mets reportedly contacted the Angels recently regarding Ohtani, and they were one of the seven clubs competing for Juan Soto, according to Jim Bowden of CBS Sports HQ.

NY Mets: Who Would Be A Perfect Fit For The Team, Shohei Ohtani Or Juan Soto?

Carlos Correa won’t be starting for the Mets in 2023 or later.

That is unfortunate for their 2023 campaign. Not terrible news, though, because consider this: The Mets were already going to be quite competitive when everyone believed Correa would sign with the Giants, and they will be even more competitive now that it appears he will sign with the Twins.

With him, the Mets were serious World Series contenders, and they still will be without him. They are equipped to triumph in October.

With him, the Mets were serious World Series contenders, and they still will be without him. They are equipped to triumph in October.

What is the good news for the Mets? They won’t be paying Correa’s salary, and cutting out a $315 million contract that will save them $26.2 million over the course of the next 12 seasons is a huge operation. Like, For ankle-operating significant. That’s a sizable enough sum of money, even for Mets owner Steve Cohen, to have an effect on how much he spends on salary.

And you can be sure that Cohen will find a lot of ways to spend that $315 million.

Shohei Ohtani a better fit?

We discussed last week how wealthy Ohtani will be when the baseball unicorn enters the free-agent market in the upcoming winter. The Angels will exert every effort to prevent him from going on sale, but that won’t be possible. When he becomes a free agent, there will likely be more teams interested in Ohtani than there are teams who are interested in him.

“He’s going to be, probably, so specific as far as his criteria as far as size of the market, winning capability, sustained winning capability. After what he’s gone through in Anaheim, I’m sure he’s going to be very particular,” MLB Network Analyst Dan O’Dowd, a former Rockies GM, told me recently.

“Obviously, there’s only going to be a few organizations that have the capabilities financially to play at that level.”

One of those teams is, uh, the Mets. Ohtani will make Correa’s deals—all three of them—appear like piggyback transactions. Without a doubt, Cohen would have been a contender for Ohtani, but now that he had $315 million more to his name? It would not be at all unexpected if the Cohen-led proposal exceeded $500 million.

Juan Soto

This one is less likely to happen, but it’s still feasible, largely because of the timelines. After the 2024 season, Soto, a left-handed batter with a World Series championship under his belt, will become a free agent. Order your Soto/Mets jerseys for 2025 now if he gets there and Cohen’s Mets don’t sign either Ohtani or Machado.

However, suppose the Mets decide that Soto should be their top priority sooner rather than later and the Padres are aware that he will likely test the free-agent market, as he has often stated he will do and the reason he rejected the hefty extension from the Nationals.

Let’s also assume that the Padres elect to trade him following the 2023 campaign, bringing a sizable haul of young MLB players and prospects with them. That action would go a long way toward replenishing the organization’s talent pool, which has suffered in recent years.

Numerous prospects from the Mets’ top 10 farm system are expected to have an impact in the main leagues in 2023. Obviously, they wouldn’t want to deal them all, but once more, if Soto is the first priority? They’d move, that much is true. After then, Cohen could talk to Soto and his lawyer, Scott Boras, to work out a contract renewal that would be far more than $400 million.

In essence, Cohen isn’t giving Correa any of his money, but Cohen will spend it eventually.

 

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