How Do The Yankees Move On From Losing Juan Soto To The Mets?

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That's not a title I ever wanted to type out, but yet here we are. On Sunday evening Steve Cohen landed his game-changer in Juan Soto. In the process he ripped up the Yankees' golden ticket to right their recent wrongs and get back to what they used to be. The aftermath is a rearranging of the landscape of baseball as well as New York sports. 

$765,000,000 over 15 years. A $75M signing bonus. May I remind you Luis Severino just signed for the biggest guaranteed contract in A's history at $67M. Dude's signing bonus was $8M more than that total figure. Nuts. It's an insane amount of cash, but at the end of the day Steve Cohen would not be deterred. This was his fuck you to baseball and his moment to fully establish himself in New York. And hey, this was the right player to do it for. Now should Soto be dwarfing the present-day value record that Ohtani set last offseason? Heavens no, but at the same time the bidding war between the New York teams shot this number into the sky. Cohen finally flexed his muscle and announced the Mets as big boys at the table. This is the new world. 

And let's make one thing certain. This was always between just the Yankees and Mets. Not that it means anything now, but he was never going anywhere else. The Blue Jays were never landing Juan Soto. The Red Sox were in this just enough to excite their fanbase, but they were never topping the New York offers. The Dodgers were there to see if he'd channel his inner Kevin Durant and join their super team for less because they're the Dodgers. 

$765M was the winning bid. The Yankees final offer came in at 16 years/$760. Juan Soto didn't choose the Mets because they offered a slightly higher AAV and $5M more total dollars. Juan Soto chose the Mets because he wanted to be a Met. He was sold their plan of constant investment into the team and he bought in. If he wanted to be a Yankee the money was there and then some. That should be a giant blow to the Yankees brass after he spent a year with them and took them to the World Series. Juan Soto truly believed the Mets offered him a better future. That is damning and depressing. 

This is the picture Scott Boras painted to Soto. If he signed back with New York for a monster number north of let's say $700M,  the Yankees would have used the bare minimum to fix the surrounding holes on the team. For all intents and purposes they'd be running the same roster back minus Gleyber and Holmes. Soto was going to be their one and only prize of the offseason. For the Mets? They're going to keep adding. I believe they're going to be in on Corbin Burnes and Max Fried to strengthen their weak rotation. If there's a hitter out there that makes sense to their lineup, they'll be in the running for him. Maybe a back end reliever as well. Cohen's pockets are endless. Remember, he's not in this to make a buck, he just wants his favorite team to win the World Series. While Hal was in these negotiations until the very end, seemingly going toe to toe with Cohen, he has reservations when it comes to total payroll. Maybe not in this specific instance, but he has quotes out there about how he thinks a $300M payroll shouldn't be necessary to consistently compete for a World Series title. I'm willing to bet Scott Boras hammered that home to Soto when it came to picking his team. He's not George and will balk at luxury tax numbers when the payroll gets too high. Cohen, on the other hand, laughs at the "Cohen tax level" that was created when he took ownership of the team. You can't restrict him from spending with penalties. His determined mission to spend and win is what sold Soto over the Yankees. 

So if you're the Yankees now, where do you turn to? What is Plan B? Spoiler alert, it's not pretty. Is there a school of thought that spreading out the money instead of giving it all to Soto can actually make them better than their 2024 version? For sure, but boy is it harder to visualize and execute. Soto changed so much just by himself. There is no obvious direction here, which is terrifying. They need to add two outfielders, 1B, 2B, a high end reliever or two, and ideally a front line SP. I have little to no faith that Brian Cashman will be able to identify and acquire that many correct pieces to make them better. A big part of the reason their bloated payroll hasn't produced a title in 15 years is because he's littered it with overpaid losers. Hal Steinbrenner isn't necessarily wrong when he says you shouldn't need a $300M payroll to consistently contend for a WS title, but having Brian Cashman as your GM requires it so you can overcome his errors. So yeah, I don't love what Plan B entails. 

Max Fried or Corbin Burnes will be targets to fortify this rotation. Possibly Garrett Crochet as well, but the White Sox asking price is enormous. Luis Castillo is a fun name to pry from Seattle, but it would depend on the ask. Obviously with Cole another year older and Carlos Rodon being Carlos Rodon, I'd very much welcome those guys into the fold, but the lineup is the biggest problem. 

This past season Aaron Judge saw the most pitches in the strike zone of his entire career. It's no coincidence that's the same season he had Juan Soto hitting in front of him. You cannot replace that presence. What you can do is try to better balance out the lineup and create legitimate depth. Willy Adames is off the board and in San Francisco so cross him off your wish list. I'd be stunned if Cody Bellinger isn't traded in the coming days. Is he a stunner by any means? No, but throwing him at 1B greatly increases your production at that position than you what you were getting in 2024. The last guy I want is Pete Alonso. Alex Bregman? Eh for the price he's asking for and what he's produced lately? Not great. After that you're looking at names like Anthony Santander (pass) and Christian Walker (potentially). Ha-Seong Kim feels like a guy they bring in at 2B as the anti-Gleyber Torres. Teoscar Hernandez is out there as well, but the Dodgers and Red Sox are eying him big time. 

What I'm getting at is the hitting market takes a steep drop after Soto. I mean of course it does, we're talking about a generational player in Soto. You don't see players of his caliber ever hit the open market at his age. It simply does not happen. That's why Steve Cohen decided this was his guy to make a statement. If the Yankees went to $775M he was going to $800M. It wouldn't have ended. Contrary to what Andy Martino reported, the Mets were very much top level players from the moment initial bids came in. Cohen was never walking away from the table and that is the reality the Yankees have to live in now. They aren't the only rich team in the game. The Dodgers and Mets have nearly endless pockets. It's a new game, maybe this was the moment they all realized that. 

I said there's no name out there who replaces Soto's presence in the lineup after Judge. I meant that, but there's one player who would soften the blow — Kyle Tucker. The Astros outfielder is about to enter his final year of control with Houston. No extension talks have taken place as the star lefty is poised to hit free agency and create his own bidding war. I'd be stunned if the Astros trade him to New York for obvious reasons, but if they had no plans to pay him and were offered a package headlined by Jasson Dominguez does that change their thinking? Probably nothing more than a pipe dream, but I'm trying here. 

At the end of the day this sucks. I suppose it could be worse if he went to Boston. I'd never be able to live in that world. Doesn't get a whole lot better with the Mets being in New York, but at least they're not in the same division. This me coping? Sure is, what am I supposed to do? Be happy? I'm fucking miserable. I'm mad I woke up today. A silent, peaceful death in my sleep would have been my personal Plan B. Instead I need to deal with the freaks in Klemmer and Meek Phil on a daily basis now. 

Now the offseason actually begins. The Winter Meetings are underway in Dallas and the big fish is off the board. Expect a ton to get done over the next few days. If you need me I'll be playing America's favorite game of "drink what's under the sink."

P.S. Shout out to Aaron Judge for his role during the Soto sweepstakes. 

He said he didn't need to talk to Soto to convince him, Nice man, good stuff. 

P.P.S. I said this in a previous blog but it really is something to turn down $440M and nearly double it a few years later.