PORT ST. LUCIE — Plenty of talented players have arrived to the Mets over the decades, Hall of Famers among them, but almost none, if any, wearing the “generational” label that was affixed to Juan Soto this offseason.
It was a buzzword that Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns used upon interviewing for the position with team owner Steve Cohen in the summer of 2023.
At that point, Soto was still playing for the Padres and more than a year away from free agency, but he fit into Cohen and Stearns’ vision for the Mets.
“We talked about some of the generational players in our game, and the difficulty of accessing some of those generational players, and certainly Juan is one of them,” Stearns said in December. “You never know where this was going to go, and we didn’t know if he was going to get an extension of some sort, but we did know that if he was going to be a free agent, we were going to make a very strong push.”
Ultimately that push involved a record $765 million guaranteed over the next 15 years. It’s a deal that could total as much as $805 million if the Mets pay Soto to prevent him from opting out after the fifth season of the contract.
The prize is a 26-year-old outfielder who fits neatly into the conversation — with players such as Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge — about the game’s greatest talents.
And within the next week, it will be time for the Mets’ new star to finish his victory lap from the winter and begin his spring. The team’s first workout for pitchers and catchers is Wednesday.
The first full-squad workout is Monday.
The Mets will be more than just the Juan Soto show, but you start with the All-Star outfielder and quickly move to Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos in the lineup as the biggest reasons for optimism that the team can build off last year’s surprising surge to the NLCS.
The other key returning hitters include Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil.
Soto, batting in the same lineup as Judge with the Yankees, produced a .288/.419/.569 slash line with 41 homers and 109 RBIs.
His season ended in the same manner as the Mets’ — with an October series loss to the Dodgers.
In Soto’s case, it was the World Series, where he owned a 1.084 OPS in the five games.
For the next six weeks, Soto will get to acclimate to his new surroundings, before games start counting.
His every move will be scrutinized by a frenzied fan base.
But if the Mets are going to end a World Series title drought that dates to 1986, it’s going to take pitching.
And on paper the starting rotation appears less than dominant — certainly well short of the Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow unit that has been assembled by the Dodgers.
And even short of the Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo rotation with the Phillies.
The Mets re-signed Sean Manaea after a strong season by the lefty, and will add him to Kodai Senga — returning from a regular season in which he pitched only 5 ¹/₃ innings — to form the top of the rotation.
Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes, David Peterson and Griffin Canning are expected to form the middle to back of the rotation.
A.J. Minter was the team’s biggest offseason bullpen addition, and Ryne Stanek was re-signed to add an additional high-leverage arm ahead of Edwin Diaz. There are plenty of question marks beyond that trio.
Under Stearns, the Mets will continue trying to win now while building a foundation with young players. It’s a plan that was presented to Soto as he considered his options as a free agent.
“Juan has been around enough organizations, and he’s certainly been around the league enough, that he’s got a pretty good feel for what leads to sustainable competitiveness,” Stearns said. “I think he felt like our vision aligned with his.”
