The New York Mets made the biggest splash of the offseason by signing Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract. This became the largest contract in professional sports history, surpassing the 10-year, $700 million deal Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers the previous year.
Soto’s record contract sparked debate within the baseball community about which player is the top choice if building a team. While Ohtani is the consensus best player in the sport, Soto signed at just 26-years-old, about four years younger than Ohtani.
Dodgers special advisor and former general manager Farhan Zaidi weighed in, stating he would choose Ohtani over Soto due to his unique ability to both hit and pitch, via the “Foul Territory” show:
“I would sign Shohei, but you’re really talking about options 1A and 1B. The Dodgers tried to sign Juan Soto too, so I’m not really picking sides. Juan got a bigger deal, so more power to him. I think the fact he was a free agent at 25 years old still kind of blows your mind. I thought negotiations there would start, I looked at Judge’s AAV of 40 (million) and you figure he was five years younger, so 14 times 40 is 560 (million). Just to get in the door you had to start there, and obviously it went up another $200 million dollars from there.
“I mean, both are great players. You’re going to get me in trouble making me choose. Just the two-way aspect of Shohei, which I hope we get to see this year, it’s just a one-of-a-kind thing.”
Ohtani had a historic first season with the Dodgers, hitting .310/.390/.646 with 38 doubles, seven triples, 54 home runs, 130 RBI, and 59 stolen bases in 159 games.
Ohtani became the first MLB player to record at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. He won a plethora of awards for his efforts, including unanimous National League MVP honors.
Soto didn’t quite match that production, but still enjoyed a career year with the New York Yankees and faced off against Ohtani in the World Series.
With Soto now on the Mets, the Dodgers anticipate facing him frequently in the postseason.
Farhan Zaidi joins Dodgers as special advisor
After Zaidi was fired by the San Francisco Giants, reuniting with Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman long appeared to be a likely outcome, though Zaidi noted in December he was still evaluating what course of action was best for him.
Ultimately, the expected outcome materialized as the Dodgers hired Zaidi as a special advisor, with duties including assisting owner Mark Walter in his other sports ventures.
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