When Juan Soto hit free agency, the expectation was that the New York Yankees were in the driver's seat when it came to retaining him. It was safe to assume that as long as the team was in the ballpark of the field in the bidding, they'd be able to re-sign him. To be completely honest, that line of thinking did make some sense at the time.
The Yankees were coming off a World Series appearance, Soto just had a monster year, and their history suggested he'd stick around for a while if they wanted him. As we all know, that couldn't have been further from the truth.
Soto wound up bolting the Bronx for Queens, inking a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets. The Mets always loomed as a realistic landing spot for Soto thanks to Steve Cohen's wallet, but their winning offer only guaranteed Soto an extra $5 million than what the Yankees had offered. Sure, the Mets offered him other perks that the Yankees did not, and their AAV was higher, but the offers were comparable, and they still got the player.
Had Yankees fans seen the final offers ahead of Soto's decision, most of them would have assumed he'd still be wearing pinstripes.
There's no sugarcoating just how big of a deal this signing was for the Mets. Not only did they just sign one of the best players in the sport on a Hall of Fame trajectory entering his prime, but they stole him away from the team known as the "big brother" in their own city, and they did that despite the Yankees going all-out.
Based on what we've seen from Soto in his first Mets spring training, Yankees fans were wrong in assuming they had any sort of advantage in the sweepstakes to sign him.
Caption whatever is going on here with Juan Soto, Starling Marte, Francisco Alvarez, Jose Siri, Alex Ramirez and Luis De Los Santos 😂 pic.twitter.com/TbOCRAlXXY
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 3, 2025
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Yankees never had an advantage in Juan Soto sweepstakes, no matter how badly Yankees fans want to deny that fact
In Monday's game, Soto was seen joking around with his new teammates and having a blast. This has been a daily occurrence for Soto, who seems to be fitting in seamlessly with his new teammates. This isn't to say Soto didn't enjoy his time in the Bronx, but was he ever seen joking around like this with his former Yankees teammates?
If we're being honest, the answer is no. This doesn't mean Soto didn't enjoy his time with the Yankees - he enjoyed it very much by all accounts. This does mean, though, that Yankees fans who presumed that their team had an advantage in the Soto sweepstakes didn't make much sense.
Had the Yankees outbid the Mets for his services, he almost certainly would have re-signed. Heck, had the Toronto Blue Jays outbid the New York teams for his services, he might have ended up there. The point here is that the Yankees were on the same level as every other team in the bidding. Had Soto vibed with the clubhouse the way he has so far as a Met perhaps that would've changed, but we'll never know.