Quick thoughts after Juan Soto agrees to sign with the Mets

It was fun for a year.

In the end, Steve Cohen’s largesse was too much to pass up. Juan Soto has agreed to a massive 15-year contract worth $765M with the Mets, according to all the trustworthy reporters. That’s $51M per year. There’s a $75M signing bonus, an opt out after the fifth year (that can be voided by adding $4M per year to the rest of the contract), and no deferrals. Soto will almost certainly to go down as the greatest player in Mets history. 

Jon Heyman says the Yankees offered 16 years and $760M, or $47.5M per year. They offered fewer total dollars and less per year. But also, they were right there, and chances are Cohen would have upped his offer had the Yankees upped theirs. Based on that, I can’t get mad at Hal Steinbrenner – do not mistake that for me being okay with losing Soto – cause I didn’t think he’d go near anything that started with a 7.

At the same time, losing Soto is a stunning organizational failure. You offered similar dollars and the guy went to the fucking Mets. Shohei Ohtani wanted nothing to do with you. Yoshinobu Yamamoto rejected your $300M. Why do so many great players not want to play for the Yankees? It’s because they’re not really the Yankees anymore. They’re just another big market team. The current generation of players didn’t watch 2009, nevermind the late 1990s dynasty. Long ago history only goes so far, Yankees.

The only good thing about Soto leaving – literally the only good thing – is the Yankees can now slide Aaron Judge back to right field, where he belongs defensively. What they do now after losing Soto, I don’t know, and I’m worried it’ll be akin to replacing Robbie Canó with Carlos Beltrán, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brian McCann. The Yankees did that and then won fewer games in 2014 than they did in 2013. It was capital-B Bad.

The Yankees must now try to replace an irreplaceable player. Their lineup was very top heavy with Soto and the only possible avenue now is acquiring several players who aren’t as good as Soto and are several years older than Soto, and will almost certainly cost more combined than Soto in 2025 and beyond. We just have to hope it works out. The list of needs, in rough order of importance:

1. A big first base bat (Christian Walker?)
2. A big outfield bat (Teoscar Hernández?)
3. A starter (Max Fried?)
4. A second/third baseman (they’re not serious about Caleb Durbin, right?)
5. Bullpen help (lots of it)

Other than Soto and a few low cost relievers, the Yankees have taken L after L on trades and free agent signings dating back to the 2021 trade deadline. Maybe Jazz Chisholm Jr. proves to be an exception, but he hasn’t been a Yankee long enough to say. Am I confident the Yankees can swing the 3-4 moves that will be needed to adequately replace Soto? I can’t say I am. The front office has to earn my trust back. They have for a while now.

I’m sure the Yankees will win a bunch of games next year and maybe even win the AL East and make a run in the postseason. They won’t be nearly as fun though – Soto is an entertainer as much as he is a baseball player – and the Gerrit Cole/Aaron Judge era is now much more likely to end without a World Series. There is an it factor with Soto that no other Yankee has. Not even Judge. It is the reason he got $765M.

Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Corey Seager, Juan Soto. All prime-aged star free agents the Yankees did not sign for one reason or other (I guess I should be happy they at least made Soto an offer, unlike Harper) and the first three were obvious mistakes the day it happened. The Yankees have regretted passing on those guys ever since. They’ll regret losing Soto too, but what’s done is done. Now they have to figure out a way to pick up the pieces and remain competitive without one the best hitters we’ll ever see.