Why Juan Soto's $765 Million Contract is a BAD Deal

Joe Pompliano breaks down Juan Soto's record $765 million contract with the New York Mets. Joe looks at all the details behind this massive deal, including how the negotiations played out, the way Soto's agent Scott Boras ran the free agency process, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen's relentless pursuit to sign Soto, and why he thinks this is ultimately a bad deal for the New York Mets. Enjoy!

Joe Pompliano creates weekly videos on interesting topics at the intersection of sports and business. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to subscribe to his channel.

Follow Joe on social media:

Listen to The Joe Pomp Show:

[gabrielv.]

I keep hearing all these experts, "He hasnt even entered his prime yet, "he is only 26",

Yeah hasn't entred his prime yet but his defense, his arm, and his speed are all on the decline, he is no 5 tool player. Thats why this will go down as the worst deal in the history of sports.

[Uns_Maps_]

Compared to Ohtani he should be paid less.
Or Ohtani should re-negotiate his contract.
But generally speaking, most players with mega deals are overpaid, especially because after the deal is closed they stop trying and get quietly into the sunset.

[af]

In the first year after Shohei Ohtani signed a big contract with the Dodgers, he set a personal record in history and won the world championship. I don’t know what kind of historical records Soto, who signed a big contract with the Mets in the next year, can set. Let’s wait and see if he can help the Mets win the world championship in the first year after joining.

[CarvinCFH]

Never mind the reasons that they are doing it. No one is worth more than a quarter of $1 billion. You don’t think every other player is going to be clamoring for the same kind of deals. He’s not even the best player in the league yet he’ll be getting the best player ever money. Just a brilliant move all the way around.

[MarkW-nx]

A .285 hitter that can't field is not a generational talent. The Mets made a terrible mistake signing him. But I'm glad the Yankees didn't keep him.

[UTNatlChamps]

It’s not bad if Cohen internally blames this as a reason for not spending money on the Mets. I doubt that transpires.

[joshuapatrick]

765 million divided by 9-10 million per WAR for a guy who produces 6.2 bWAR a season. So he has to put up 85 bWAR for that to be an okay contract in current terms, but where is the figure going to be in 5-10 years? 12-15 mil per bWAR seems likely IMO which means he has to produce 55-60 WAR over 15 years to be a reasonable investment. I think he is easily capable of that. In terms of what it does to current markets it isn't ideal but in terms of long-term potential I don't think it's the disaster you want to believe from a purely mathematical standpoint. I personally don't believe any sports contract should be more than 200, 000, 000 period, considering the lessons we learned with Trout, Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strausburg. I think that MLB's players have it way too good for the amount of actual value they produce in terms of ROI. It's kind of sad how inflated things have gotten in the least popular of the "big three" professional sports organizations.

[K-DUBYA]

Soto will become the Giancarlo Stanton of the Mets

[thedarkknight]

I see many people talking but I will tell you that Juan Soto deserves it just like many people deserve other things, so simple if he were your son you would be happy, if he and his family are here, blessings for him and that he puts a number to shut up about this thing that only talks.

[MaverickTomcat]

Juan Sluto will hit 25 HRs max this season PMSL!

[goatsquadtv]

Never seen so many people madd cause someone is getting paid, Juan Soto got the contract he wanted let me the man Live. These owners make damn near ten times more then are willing to pay a baseball player its the owners money..

[zymonk]

The Mets owner aka Mr. Cohen has 21.3 Billion Dollar. He just wanna have fun in his ballpark.

[SoldierBoy]

His defense is trash and his arm is below average and he can't steal bases or pitch

He's just got so many weaknesses

[encinobalboa]

Juan does not have a league MVP. His career BA is .285 which is not elite. His career RBI average 74 is not elite. His HR average 25 is not elite. Mets overpaid big time. When Juan gets injured and or reaches his 30's, he will decline.

[rsuriyop]

Aaron Judge is way, way better than Juan Soto. Not just by miles but by mountains, hills, valleys, and streams. And yet will get nowhere near what his former teammate will be getting. But I guess Steve Cohen is so rich that it won't affect him and his tens of billions. So he don't care of course. But holy sh!t is this unfair to other far better players like Judge, Witt, and Gunnar. I almost feel that even someone like Riley Greene could soon end up becoming better than Juan Soto as well.