Juan Soto, Steve Cohen weigh in on luxury suite being included in his contract

NEW YORK — For Juan Soto, the inclusion of a suite in his record-setting contract was a sweet gesture by Mets owner Steve Cohen.

A luxury box at Citi Field for Soto’s family was one of the perks Cohen included in the 15-year, $765 million contract that he signed the slugger to this week.

“My family’s really important for me, and without them, I probably wouldn’t be here,” Soto said Thursday after his introductory press conference at Citi Field.

“I feel like that was really nice coming from him, and what he’s been showing and what he can do for my family was really special, so I think it’s one of the biggest things.”

The inclusion of the suite garnered attention this week after his previous team, the Yankees, declined to include one in their offer.

Cohen said he was “happy to provide” the suite after it was requested from Soto’s side of the negotiations.

“We included it right from the beginning,” Cohen said Thursday. “That was a request.”

The Yankees offered Soto a reported 16-year, $760 million deal, but general manager Brian Cashman said the team felt it should “honor” prior arrangements in which Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole and CC Sabathia paid for their own suites at Yankee Stadium.

“Some high-end players that make a lot of money for us, if they want suites, they buy them,” Cashman said Wednesday at the winter meetings in Dallas. “No regrets there.”

Cashman also downplayed the idea that the suite was a significant factor in Soto’s departure, suggesting the perk did not swing “the possession arrow one way or another when you’re making that kind of money.”

Soto, 26, ended up spending only one season with the Yankees, who acquired him last December in a blockbuster trade with the San Diego Padres.

The right fielder hit a career-high 41 home runs and finished third in American League MVP voting with the Yankees, whom he helped lead to the World Series.

Soto spoke highly Thursday of his experiences with the Yankees, but in the end, it was the Mets who won a high-stakes bidding war that also included the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

“My Yankees experience, I can’t even describe it,” Soto said. “It was incredible. I had the best time. It was really tough to go away from it, but definitely we were trying to figure out how things were gonna be here and there, and as a family we decided.”