Juan Soto's awkward Yankees damage control will only hurt him in the long run

From the moment word broke that Juan Soto would be leaving the New York Yankees in order to sign a record contract with the New York Mets, it promised to send the Subway Series — a crosstown rivalry with a ton of potential all too often hamstrung by both teams not being competitive at the same time — into the stratosphere. Soto didn't just leave for a hated rival; he did what star players hardly ever do: Turn down the Yankees' money, plunging the franchise into an existential crisis (and maybe altering the entire landscape of the league) in the process.

The real fireworks won't arrive until later this summer, when Soto makes his return to the Bronx for the first Mets-Yankees showdown of the regular season. But we got a small preview of what's to come on Monday, when the two teams met for the first time during spring training. And while Soto seemed to go out of his way to defuse any potential tension, this isn't fooling anybody.

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Juan Soto's awkward Yankees detente isn't fooling anybody

Everybody seemed very consciously on their best behavior at Port St. Lucie on Monday morning. Soto was all smiles, and some key Yankees figures went out of their way to greet him and show that there were no hard feelings.

"I told him he looks terrible in that uniform," Boone joked of the encounter. "Good to see him. Obviously Juan was great for us, but just as importantly he was a great guy in our room, great guy in our clubhouse."

Soto wasn't done making the rounds, later catching up with other big Yankees names like starter Marcus Stroman.

Which is understandable enough; Soto is likely sick of having to answer questions about how things ended between he and the Yankees, and he certainly seems to have no regrets about the decision he made over the winter.

Still: Come on. While players themselves never cling to rivalries as much as fans would like to pretend they do (for the most part, all of these guys are friends off the field) there have to be some hard feelings here. And more importantly, this goodwill tour isn't going to change anything about the dynamic between these two teams, and between Soto and Yankees fans, moving forward.

In some ways, Soto would be better off leaning into the heel role, embracing the rejection he dealt out in free agency instead of trying to play politician. No matter what he does, he'll be a villain in the Bronx for the remainder of his career, and unless the Bombers finally capture a World Series title in the Aaron Judge era, its main characters (Judge, Boone, Brian Cashman) will be defined by letting him get away.