The offseason is officially here, and so is Juan Soto’s free agent withdrawal.

The 26-year-old star will be a free agent for the first time in his career; Soto, who hit .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 home runs and 129 RBIs in his first season with the New York Yankees, is expected to receive one of the largest contracts in major league history. Naturally New York Mets He will be one of her biggest suitors and is eager to give her this record-breaking deal.

But with the Mets Soto reportedly checking availability Just days after the Bronx Bombers lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, one of the Mets’ all-time greats isn’t keen on Soto coming to Queens.

talk with Mike Puma of the New York PostRon Darling doesn’t think the Mets should go all out to sign Soto, even though he’s a productive hitter.

“Juan Soto is as good a hitter as I’ve ever seen and Aaron Judge had a great season, but one player can’t do that. I don’t know, maybe you get two $300 million players,” Darling said.

Darling, who pitched for the Mets from 1983 to 1991 and is currently one of the Mets’ color commentators on SNY, later doubled down on his reasoning; He explained that the Mets don’t need to sign a player like Soto to help them win a championship with his 2024 season.

“The Mets have proven there’s a lot there this season, and it’ll be fun to add to that nice mix. I wouldn’t take it as ‘If you don’t get Soto, you don’t have a chance to win,'” Darling said.

The Mets shocked the baseball world last season after entering 2024 with little expectation. After starting the season 0-5 and being 11 games under .500 by the end of May, they had one of the league’s best records and finished the regular season with 89 wins; New York made the postseason as a Wild Card team and made it all the way to the NLCS, eventually falling to the aforementioned Dodgers in six games.

While the addition of a player like Soto would make the Mets an immediate contender, Darling believes New York’s current group can build on its fairytale 2024 season and make another postseason run.