All signs point to the New York Mets signing Juan Soto. Steve Cohen will not be outdone here, and he’s found a player seemingly eager to be the next great player to come to the Mets.

Arguably, Soto would be THE best hitter to ever don a Mets uniform. When you go to the create a player on MLB the Show, in terms of hitting, it looks like Soto.

At 26, the Mets would be getting their next Mike Piazza, Carlos Beltran, or Francisco Lindor, i.e. a future Hall of Famer in their prime. However, Soto might be the most promising.

That’s from an offensive standpoint. Defensively, it’s an entirely different discussion.

Yes, Soto has been nominated for a Gold Glove the past two years. However, seeing how Lindor can’t get nominated, we see how much stock we should put into that process.

Soto is not a good outfielder. He had a -1 OAA in 2024, and he has a cumulative -25 OAA over the past three seasons. Over that time frame, he has rated as the worst defensive right fielder in all of baseball.

Making matters worse is Soto’s speed. He’s slow. To put it into perspective, DJ Stewart is faster. There were only six right fielders in all of baseball slower than him.

As a result, he’s a poor to middling base runner. Put another way, he’s effectively a one tool player, but that one tool is so worth it.

That goes double for the Mets. Soto hits .333/.466/.709 at Citi Field. That’s Barry Bonds PED level production.

That production takes the Mets to the next level. Instead of losing in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers they beat them. He’s that much of a difference maker.

Of course, contracts are not made in a bubble. They carry long term risks. As noted, we can argue Soto is already poised to move to DH, and we don’t know his feelings on being a full-time DH.

Of course, some of the concern could be mitigated with opt outs. That creates the drama of revisiting this every few years. It could also hasten a mistake contact in the future.

All told, there are obvious risks with Soto signing a megadeal. We can’t pretend they don’t exist. It’s something that needs to be considered, especially for David Stearns who puts an emphasis on run prevention.

All told, the Mets still should do everything possible to sign him. He’s the perfect fit for this team. They’re blessed to have an owner who won’t hamstring building this roster because of this deal.

Soto should be a Met even if we should stop pretending this deal would carry significant risks.