New uniform, same Soto: This will take some getting used to for Yankees fans

It's been a little over two months since Juan Soto stunned the baseball world by leaving the New York Yankees in favor of the New York Mets, and while Yankees fans certainly haven't gotten over the perceived betrayal, Brian Cashman's offseason pivot has at least given them something else to preoccupy themselves with — or, in the case of the team's third-base situation, yell about — ahead of spring training.

But until now, Soto's departure has been strictly theoretical, the sort of thing you could bury in the corner of your mind and try to forget about while dreaming of Cody Bellinger lofting fly ball after fly ball over the short porch at Yankee Stadium. Now that Soto has officially reported to Mets camp in Port St. Lucie, however, it's all too real.

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It'll take Yankees fans a long time to get over the sight of Juan Soto in a Mets uniform

Soto arrived for his first official day with his new team on Sunday, when New York asked its position players to report for spring training. He didn't do anything too out of the ordinary, reporting for a physical before getting in some conditioning drills and taking batting practice. But his first workout still spoke volumes, and will reverberate around New York City for weeks to come.

The Mets are already experiencing the Soto effect so far at spring training, with a noticeable uptick of fans in attendance before games have even begun.

"It's exciting," manager Carlos Mendoza told ESPN. "You could see it. All the people. There's a lot more cameras. As soon as he stepped on the field, he was walking toward the cage, you could just feel it. And when he stepped in that batting cage with all the boys who were there ... heads turned around. It was like, 'OK. Here he is.'''

This was the future that Yankees fans had told themselves was supposed to be theirs. Sure, the team knew the risk when it traded for Soto back in December of 2023, with the outfielder just a year away from free agency. But these are the New York Yankees we're talking about — they're not supposed to lose a player like this, especially not when this much money is at stake. Now, though, Soto is taunting them in a Mets uniform and talking about the future with his new franchise.

"It feels pretty good to be sitting here, that I'm going to be here for a long time and be sitting in the same chair for a long time," Soto said. "It's really exciting. I can't wait to see how it goes through the years and how we can enjoy it and embrace it every year."

No matter how much talent Cashman and the Yankees add, it's going to take a long time — or, ideally, a World Series ring — to take away the sting of seeing Soto in enemy colors.