3 Mets who won’t be back thanks to Juan Soto’s massive contract

The Juan Soto saga has officially reached its conclusion. Steve Cohen and the New York Mets have signed Juan Soto to a 15-year deal worth $765 million according to Jon Heyman of the NY Post. It can go as high as $800 million with incentives and includes no deferred money.

The reason that Mets fans were so excited that Steve Cohen took over as the team's owner was for moments like these. The Mets have signed a generational 26-year-old on a Hall of Fame trajectory to a deal that will keep him in Flushing for the remainder of his career.

Signing Soto is obviously a massive win for New York, and it also ensures that at least these three players won't be back in 2025.

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3) The Mets would be smart to trade Starling Marte for some pitching help

The Mets signed Soto, an outfielder, to join an already stacked group of outfielders. Brandon Nimmo is locked in long-term, Tyrone Taylor has a couple of years of club control, as does the newly acquired Jose Siri.

Can the Mets keep Starling Marte around as well? Certainly, but where's the fit? Sure, they could use him in right field, but chances are, they won't want Soto as their DH in year one of their 15-year commitment with him. They could use Marte as the team's DH, but they can certainly do better in free agency.

Marte is a fine player when healthy at this stage of his career, but he's played fewer than 100 games in each of the last two seasons. He's played fewer than 120 in all three of his years with the Mets. While he did have a respectable .269 batting average, during the regular season, he also hit just seven home runs in 94 games.

Marte makes sense as a fit for a team in need of a corner outfielder that has an expensive pitcher to offer in a swap. Will it happen? That remains to be seen, but for a team in need of pitching and with a slew of outfielders, it makes too much sense. Given the fact that he just has one year remaining, he wouldn't be impossible to move even with his contract at a pretty hefty number.

2) J.D. Martinez won't be back after the Juan Soto signing

Arguably the biggest name brought in by New York last offseason was J.D. Martinez on a one-year deal. This made a lot of sense at the time, as the Mets lacked an established DH, but the Martinez signing simply did not age as well as the Mets might've hoped.

The 37-year-old slashed .235/.320/.406 with 16 home runs and 69 RBI in 120 regular season games. His numbers weren't putrid, but considering his .623 OPS in the second half and his numbers not coming close to matching his elite track record, it's easy to see why this wound up being a bit of a dud.

By the time that the Mets were in the postseason, Martinez was mostly used as a DH against left-handed pitching. He started just five games all of October. He should still get a decent deal somewhere this offseason if he chooses to continue playing, but the Mets can and should upgrade at DH over Martinez.

1) Harrison Bader's fate has been sealed by Juan Soto's signing

Another player that the Mets brought in on a one-year deal last offseason was Harrison Bader. He had some exciting moments with the team, particularly in the first half of the season, but as the year progressed, he was being outplayed by Tyrone Taylor. In fact, he started just two of New York's postseason games.

Bader provided excellent defense, speed, and was a good clubhouse presence as well, but he didn't provide much offensive firepower, especially as the year progressed.

It felt as if his fate in Flushing was sealed when the Mets acquired Jose Siri, a defense-first outfielder, and Soto just added another outfielder to the mix. At this point, there simply isn't room to bring Bader back, even if the Mets wanted to, for whatever reason. With him being arguably the best center fielder available in free agency, though, Bader should do well for himself.