In the wake of the gigantic 765 million contract granted by the New York Mets to Juan Soto, are the small markets of major baseball more than ever excluded from the race for major honors? Édouard Julien believes no.
• Also read: “I faced the storm”: Édouard Julien looks back on his difficult second season with the Twins
Last year, it was Shohei Ohtani who signed an agreement worth 700 million for 10 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. A few months later, the team won the World Series.
This time, it’s Soto who propels the Mets’ payroll into another stratosphere, which already stood at 324 million in 2024.
In the last 10 years, the only team to win top honors without being in the top 10 in payroll was the Kansas City Royals, who were at 13e level, in 2015.
In this orgy of millions, Édouard Julien believes that the Twins, who played with the 12e lowest payroll last season, can still dance with the big guys.
“We are a team in a smaller market, but we must not give ourselves defeats. The Dodgers put a lot of money into their team too and we beat them during the season. It gives us confidence,” he pleaded.
“It remains a game and anything can happen. The Tigers with their small payroll beat Houston. We just have to have the right team at the right time,” he recalled.
A good thing
Next season, Julien should receive a salary of US$800,000. He is delighted that increasingly large amounts are being awarded to players.
“Of course we don’t just play for money, but it’s fun to see that contracts like Soto’s are given. “I don’t think about that, and my goal is to stay in the majors for a long time and be a model for young baseball players,” he said.
In 2023, the Twins finished the season in first place in the Central Division and made a good run, until the division series against the Houston Astros.
Last season, the team slipped to fourth place behind Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City, but Julien is not discouraged and uses the famous formula of the Montreal Canadiens.
“It wasn’t the season we hoped for for the team last year, but we are keeping the same core of players, so we will still be in the mix for the playoffs.”
