Juan Soto's massive new contract includes an interesting clause

Juan Soto signed the biggest contract in sports history Sunday night, inking a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets, choosing the Mets over crosstown rival, and Soto's former team, the New York Yankees. Other teams that were reportedly in on Soto were the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. The deal eclipses Shohei Othani's $700 million deal that was signed last offseason.

The contract includes no deferred money, something teams knew Soto didn't want. One of the key parts of the contract is an opt-out five years into the deal. Soto has the option to opt out of the contract after the 2029 season and if he does, things will get interesting.

Per @martinonyc, Juan Soto has an opt out after the fifth year of his deal pic.twitter.com/D7Y3yEReNu
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) December 9, 2024

Firstly, according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, the contract is front-loaded, meaning over the first five years of the contract, before the opt-out, he'll be paid $61 million a year for his baseball services. After those five seasons, Soto will be paid $460 million over the final 10 years of the contract.

However, if Soto chooses to exercise his opt-out of the massive deal, there's a clause in the contract that would allow the Mets to void the opt-out and add $4 million per year over those final 10 years. That would mean Soto gets paid $50 million per year for the remainder of the contract. For those who can't do quick math, that would increase the total amount of money in the contract to $805 million.

Feinsand also reported that Soto will get a $75 million signing bonus with the Mets. The signing bonus and the potential for the contract to be worth $805 million was likely the reason Soto chose the Mets over the Yankees, who offered $760 million over 16 years. However, it's unknown what kind of incentives were in the Yankees offer.

Soto immediately gives the Mets, who were two wins away from making the World Series in 2024, a much higher chance of making the Fall Classic in 2025, though they'll still have to compete with the Dodgers for that spot. A Dodgers-Mets NLCS rematch seems inevitable at this point.