Only One Team Had the Owner Willing to Pay Juan Soto What He’s Worth

Juan Soto's 15-year , $765 million contract is the biggest in sports history.

Ruben Navarrette : It turns out that nobody in baseball really tried to sign him until Mets owner Steve Cohen actually did it.

Soto got $60 million more than Shohei holy goddamned Ohtani got a year earlier , he says.

Ruben Navarrette : It would have been a disservice to information-gathering if Soto had signed for anything less than a ransom.

He says Soto 's free agency was a referendum on baseball capitalism, a useful exercise to figure out what a superstar who just turned 26 is really worth.

Soto went to a team whose boss understood a premium is worth paying when the prize is devastating the Yankees .