Exclusive | Steve Cohen wasn’t convinced Mets won the Juan Soto sweepstakes — until he got his ‘yes’

DALLAS — Mets owner Steve Cohen and his top baseball man, David Stearns, held a secret, last-minute lunch meeting with Juan Soto, Scott Boras and others in Soto’s inner circle Friday at Cohen’s home in Boca Raton, Fla. It was a very pleasant second get-together, one that solidified Cohen’s resolve to try to win the prize of the winter. 

And yet, Cohen also came away from that high-powered confab convinced Soto was preparing to remain in pinstripes. 

Cohen’s first thought, considering this meeting followed by a few weeks the one at Cohen’s Beverly Hills mansion: “We can’t keep meeting like this. I’m running out of houses.” 

The other thought that wouldn’t leave Cohen’s mind — much more pervasive and to the point — throughout the weekend, almost right up until the time he got the “yes” on the historic $765 million deal that made Soto a Met, was that he wasn’t going to win this intracity competition. The negative notion that he couldn’t match or surpass one obvious Yankees advantage just wouldn’t leave his mind. 

“I was being logical. When you have [Aaron] Judge, it’s tough to beat that,” Cohen told The Post by phone. “Juan was great. But what they had … I didn’t know how to solve that.” 

Cohen believed he was the most motivated owner, and he also believed it would ultimately come down to the two New York teams, and he was right about both those things. The only thing he was wrong on was the eventual derby winner. 

Many times over the weekend, he told folks he felt sure they were running second, almost right up until the time they finished first. He kept bidding, anyway. He was so convinced he was heading for bridesmaid territory that he joked to friends and confidants about whether there was prize money for second place. 

“There was a lot of emotion and a lot of ups and down, not knowing where you stood,” Cohen said. 

He frequently described the process as opaque, right up until the final reveal. 

When he finally won the day, and the player he coveted, Cohen and Soto had a brief phone conversation. He thanked his new superstar for believing in the Mets. 

“Juan’s going to be very happy with the Mets,” Cohen decided. 

Some folks will paint these sweepstakes as all about money, and there’s no question that was a major factor. Word is Soto wanted to establish a market for players who follow, and he surely wanted to be paid whatever he felt was market value. 

We’ll never know if he would have remained a Yankee had they matched the Mets offer, as they were given the chance but declined. But Cohen and Stearns did make excellent impressions in their two meetings. And that didn’t hurt. 

People close to the situation say Soto came to trust the Mets’ main duo, who got the club into the NLCS in what was supposed to be a transitional year. That put them in the ballgame against the team that had the advantages in history, tradition, consistency and incumbency. And of course, lineup protection. 

All along, the Mets’ offers ran only slightly ahead, and it’s possible only relatively small things helped, too. The combination of perks that included a signing bonus of $75M (the Yankees offered $60M), escalators that can take the deal to $805 million, a no-trade clause, no deferrals (the Yankees also had none), the fifth-year opt-out (at age 30), and a suite for the Soto family probably helped push them over the finish line. 

The Yankees shouldn’t be faulted for bidding a whopping $760M, but they wouldn’t budge on the suite. The Yankees felt they couldn’t give a suite to Soto when Judge pays for his suite, and even Derek Jeter paid. They were willing to discount a suite but not alter their precedent. 

Cohen didn’t give the suite much of a thought. When he has his eyes on a prize, he is singularly focused. 

Some folks may suggest now he’s trying to make New York a Mets town. But that’s not his motivation. He doesn’t look at it like that. 

“The Yankees are the Yankees. I respect that,” Cohen said. “This is not about the Yankees versus the Mets. It’s about competing for a player. We both can exist in New York. There’s plenty of room.” 

Cohen is making room. 

He may be accused of overpaying, and the deal is historic and remarkable. But the Blue Jays were also believed to be at $760 million, so it’s not like he blew away the field. The Mets were actually thought to be running second to the Jays at $720 million into the weekend, and when the Yankees bumped their bid from $702M to $712M, the gap wasn’t exactly significant. 

Cohen offered a $100M signing bonus at one point, but Soto’s camp was more interested in the $50M average annual value. Cohen went to $750M late, then to the winning $765M. The Yankees added a 16th year to their $47.5M a year offer to pull within $5M total. You can suggest it was the extra $5M or the extra perks, and all the rest. And that may be right. But the impression Cohen and Co. left didn’t hurt, either.