The Mets won the battle for Juan Soto this past offseason, and Soto is providing more insight into why he made his decision to choose Queens over The Bronx.
In a Sports Illustrated story, the outfielder praised Mets owner Steve Cohen, not just for his financial largesse, but also for creating a family-friendly atmosphere throughout the organization.
Soto also questioned how good the Yankees will be over the course of the rest of his career.
“As you see how long this contract is going to be, it just came down to that decision, you know?” Soto told SI. “What do they have in the farm system? How many times can we be good on this team? I know the Yankees are going to be good for the next five, six years. We don’t know after that.”
The Yankees reached the World Series for the first time since 2009 in Soto’s lone season with the club, hitting in front of Aaron Judge, and Soto said his first choice would have been to return as a free agent.
“The Yankees were No. 1,” Soto said of where he wanted to end up heading into free agency. “From Day One.”
It echoed Soto’s comments after he first signed with the Mets, when he said in December they gave him “the best chances” to win during his 15-year, $765 million contract.
Soto clearly values the commitment that Cohen has shown.
“I mean, the effort that he puts in,” Soto said. “He put a lot of things out there. They put my family into it. My family, and the way they take care of everything. They have to be taken care of.”
But that doesn’t mean he was upset with the Yankees and their treatment of his family while he was with the team.
Soto again said he was not upset by Yankees team security last year.
The Post previously reported Soto was bothered by an incident during the 2024 season in which a Yankees security guard blocked a family member of Soto’s and his chef/driver from certain areas of the ballpark.
“Nothing happened,” Soto said. “All this news that came out that security … they bring my family around, that they don’t let them be, and all that kind of s—. That’s not true. The security in the Yankees, those guys were 1A with me and my family.”
Soto also added the lack of an offer of a free suite at Yankee Stadium — an organizational policy it hasn’t parted from for any player — did not play a factor in his move to the Mets.
Instead, Soto said, it was Cohen convincing him the Mets would have a chance to win every year.
“That’s what he told me,” Soto said. “He’s going to try to put a winning team out there every year. And he’s capable of it. And I give him all my trust. I hope to be happy.”
Soto added the Yankees were not as strong.
“I mean, they made a pretty good effort,” Soto said of their 16-year, $760 million offer. “But we went back and forth with a lot of things. We tried our best.
“I feel like the Yankees did a pretty good job. But they kept… they couldn’t get it done right. Like, I wanted to get it done, but they’re still bouncing around. ‘Here … at least that … maybe … maybe no … ’ instead of just getting it done right away. Yeah, just get it done.”
