Insider already forecasting potential for Yankees pain with Juan Soto

The New York Yankees gave up the farm to land Juan Soto, alright. The former baseball prodigy of the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals joined his third big-league club shortly after being able to legally rent a car. New York sent a slew of pitchers San Diego's way for what will hopefully be more than a one-year rental. Given how high the stakes are for the Yankees this year, they went for broke.

While few teams can afford to sign Soto next offseason, Jon Heyman of The New York Post predicts that he will be staying in New York, just maybe not with the Yankees... Yes, he envisions a scenario where the New York Mets will cough up $500 million to compete with the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies in the division. They will be better this season than last, but 2025 is their big year.

Soto won't be turning 26 until right before Halloween. Since he already won a World Series when he was with Washington in 2019, who is to say that is a top priority for him right now? He has time to collect another ring or two, but now is all about getting paid. As if you needed more proof of that, look at who represents him. You didn't have to look to know he is another Scott Boras client about the bag.

The tax rates are the same in either New York borough, but the Mets may pay him more to win less.

Can New York Mets swoop in to steal Juan Soto from New York Yankees?

We know how badly newish Mets owner Steve Cohen wants to win. Hal Steinbrenner probably wants a World Series championship of his own, but he doesn't want it as badly as his late father did. George Steinbrenner lived and died for this team. Everyone is different, but I think is a Boras-fueled bidding war, the Mets could conceivably beat out the Yankees. If that were the case, just fire Brian Cashman.

While I don't know if the Mets will become a winner immediately upon Soto's arrival, every team he has left has been worse off. The Nationals are among the worst teams in the Senior Circuit, while the Padres had that one good year before going back to being better than the Colorado Rockies out west. With this being a World Series or bust type of year for the Yankees, what happens if they don't?

I think with Houston expected to pull back, the Yankees must take advantage of other AL contenders like Baltimore and defending World Series champion Texas being in unfamiliar territory as the hunted. While the AL is wide-open, the Yankees should be on the short list of teams who can realistically win the pennant. As for the Mets in the NL, they should do cartwheels if they end up as the No. 6 seed.

Somebody will pay Soto half a billion dollars, but only time will tell if that team will be the Yankees.