That Mets mascot with the big baseball head is out of a job -- There's a new Mr. Met
Juan Soto is now the face of that other franchise in New York
New York Met owner Steve Cohen has money to burn and he’s throwing a pile of it at Juan Soto, partly for the pleasure of stealing a player from the New York Yankees. Soto Sunday agreed to a massive 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets.
If you aren’t familiar with Steve, he made headlines in 2013 when his hedge-fund pleaded guilty to insider trading and was fined $1.8 billion. The main character in the hit Showtime series “Billions,” Bobby Axelrod, is believed to be based on Cohen.
Forbes Magazine has estimated his net worth at $21 billion, so he certainly can afford to burn some bucks on Soto — or anything else he desires.
Understand, I’m not a Soto hater, in fact I’m happy Cohen kept him away from the Dodgers and Yankees. It’s just that it’s a lot of money to spend on a mediocre outfielder and baserunner who has a lifetime batting average of .285. Yes, he hit 41 home runs for the Yanks last season, but that right-field fence in Yankee Stadium is more appropriate for Whiffle Ball.
I know, I know — nobody running baseball teams these days cares about batting average and Soto is an on-base machine. Great patience at the plate and he will take his walks. His power seems to be trending upward, too. But you are paying the man the most money any baseball player has ever been paid. Shouldn’t he be the best all-around player in the game?
He is not.
And even though MLB teams have no salary cap, most of them still have budgets. And for the kind of money Soto is getting, the Mets could have acquired some outstanding players at other positions. They could have given their popular free-agent first baseman Pete Alonso a nice new contract, which they need to do, even with the Soto contract on their books.
But Cohen is one of those rich guys who is accustomed to getting what he wants, and in a bidding war with the crosstown team, Soto was the beneficiary of his largesse. That’s a lot of money gambled on one player, who now not only has to live up to that contract, but stay healthy enough to do it.