It’s now clear that New York Mets owner Steve Cohen was not going to let New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner submit the highest final bid in the pursuit of free-agency superstar Juan Soto.
Steinbrenner reportedly went to $760M over 16 years for Soto, but the All-Star outfielder is on track to sign a 15-year, $765M contract with the Mets that could eventually be worth over $800M total and includes a $75M signing bonus and an opt-out after five years with no deferred money.
While a plethora of Yankees fans understandably spent portions of Monday morning lamenting the fact that Soto chose the Mets over the storied American League franchise, one unnamed MLB scout thinks the 26-year-old’s decision could prove to be a blessing in disguise for Steinbrenner and for Yankees senior vice president/general manager Brian Cashman.
“I think the Yankees dodged a bullet,” that scout told Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com about Cohen winning the Soto sweepstakes.
The scout added that Steinbrenner can “spend a lot of money in a hurry and add something sexy” to bolster the Yankees’ infield, outfield, starting rotation and bullpen now that he won’t be giving Soto a contract that has an annual average value of $47.5M.
That’s all well and good but ignores several aspects of the offseason’s developments. For starters, no position player available is as good as Soto. Second, multiple reporters have said since Sunday night that Cohen and Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns aren’t finished big-game hunting. In short, Steinbrenner may find himself competing with Cohen’s financial power for team-changing talents through spring training.
“Now we’ll see if Steinbrenner’s appetite was whetted — or, like a guy waking up from a weekend bender, vows to never touch another drop,” Bob Klapisch of NJ Advance Media wrote about Soto rejecting a return to the Yankees.
It’s a solid point considering Steinbrenner said this past spring the club’s payroll is “not sustainable” due to luxury-tax penalties. Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay later noted Steinbrenner was “not bluffing when he says $300M is an unsustainable payroll.”
The Yankees acquired Soto via a December 2023 trade and essentially had a year to win him over. Klapisch suggested Steinbrenner and Co. may have overestimated how much building a legacy with the Bronx Bombers meant to the slugger.
“The Yankees thought they had the sales pitch to appeal to Soto’s competitive nature and his vanity,” Klapisch wrote. “…Attendance. TV ratings. National following. Overall revenue. Ballpark dimensions. Aaron Judge. The path to the World Series. History and tradition. The Yankees believed they trumped the Mets in every respect. They thought Soto would see it, too — especially after a trip to the World Series just two months ago.”
The scout believes the Soto money can be better used on multiple assets, but Klapisch sounds unconvinced Steinbrenner will spend even half of that money to sign players who didn’t become beloved favorites among paying customers while helping the 2024 Yankees complete a trip to the World Series.
“The Yankees are obligated to turn Soto’s defection into a positive,” Klapisch added. “…Soto’s signing has already shifted the balance of power in New York. The Yankees and Mets are in a dead heat as of today. Steinbrenner shouldn’t accept that.”
“Shouldn’t” isn’t the same as “won’t,” and that says plenty about Steinbrenner’s reputation compared to Cohen’s as of the start of the ongoing MLB winter meetings.