Carlos Rodon's Juan Soto approach has Yankees sounding like New York's little brother

The New York Yankees have tried to take the high road ever since Juan Soto spurned them to join the crosstown New York Mets back in December. Brian Cashman pivoted quickly, signing Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt while acquiring Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger via trade. Aaron Boone and Soto's former teammates all had nothing but kind things to say about his year in pinstripes, while remaining focused on getting back to the World Series and winning it in 2025.

But despite New York's attempts to insist that everything was still normal, that there were plenty of ways to build a championship team, it was hard to avoid the feeling that something in the Big Apple — and in the league overall — had shifted. Now it was the Mets, not the big, bad Yankees, who were throwing their financial weight around, going where no other team dared in order to woo the biggest names in the sport. Sure, the Yankees have the history, but judging by the state of things right now, which team really seemed like the big brother in New York?

That sense only gets stronger as the teams report to spring training, and the Yankees can hardly even try to project confidence in life without Soto.

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Carlos Rodon throws up his hands at the prospect of having to pitch to Juan Soto

Carlos Rodon is not typically shy about communicating his belief in his own abilities, a tendency that got him into a little bit of hot water during last year's playoff run. Which is why it was so surprising to hear the lefty's response when he was asked by media in Tampa about how he'd approach facing Soto in a potential Subway Series matchup later this summer.

Of course, he's not wrong here, strictly speaking; pitchers have been trying to figure out exactly how to pitch to Soto for years now, and no one's come up with a good answer. And you certainly don't expect Rodon to go out of his way to trash a former teammate and become a distraction on the first day of camp. Still, while Rodon tried to laugh it off, it's not hard to read between the lines here: The Yankees don't actually have a way to pitch to Soto, and that's the kind of player this team could really, really use.

It's the kind of player that the Yankees used to treat as a birthright. But now it's the Mets who own the city, and the Yankees who find themselves operating like every other team in the league. This is the sort of quote that used to be associated with #lolmets, but at this point, it's hard to avoid the feeling that the emperor no longer has any clothes.