So Long Soto: Mets Break The Bank For Generational Hitter

The Juan Soto saga is over, and the Soto Era in the Bronx lasted one year. As fun as it was, I’m fine with the fact that the Yankees didn’t just dump more than three-quarters of a billion dollars into his bank account. If you think I’m crazy, well, lets get to it and I’ll explain my position on this.

Good riddance.

That’s my primary thought on the departure of Juan Soto who will be changing boroughs in New York City after signing a contract that is so utterly absurd, it boggles the mind.

Soto was simply fantastic in his one season with the Yankees and without him, there’s no way they win the AL pennant. Hell, they probably don’t win the AL East and there might have been an outside chance they don’t even make the postseason. Remember, they only edged the Orioles by three games, a Baltimore team that felt like it was flat-lining for the final three months of the year, and they were eight games better than the two AL wild-card teams, the Royals and Tigers.

If that sounds crazy, then you weren’t paying close enough attention in 2024 when Soto and Aaron Judge were at times a two-man offense. Take Soto off that team and what did you have? Judge and a bunch of mediocrities for most of the season, and without Soto, you have to wonder if Judge would have had the MVP season he had because teams would have pitched around him all year.

Now he’s gone, turn-coating over to Queens where he’ll make more money than any professional athlete in North American sports history. And while you might think I’m nuts, I’m glad the Yankees didn’t win the bidding war. He’ll never say it publicly, but I bet Brian Cashman is, too.

“We entered the process in free agency and that took us to heights that I never would have expected,” Cashman said Monday. “Hal Steinbrenner really stepped up to find a way to retain Juan Soto and so I’m certainly proud of his efforts. Certainly went well beyond what I would have expected.”

And I believe him. They did, and Yankees fans shouldn’t be shitting on Hal because he didn’t outbid the maniac that is Steve Cohen, the richest owner in baseball. Cohen made it very clear he was going to do whatever it took, no matter how insane the price tag was.

Just 26 years old, Soto is going to be one of the best hitters in baseball for at least the next six or seven years, on this I have no doubt. As long as he stays healthy and doesn’t decide that now that he’s got his generational wealth he can start slacking off, we’re going to check on those Mets box scores and be envious of what he’s doing.

But once he starts getting into his 30s, and then 40s by the time this $765 million contract ends, have fun with that Mets. We all bitch and moan about the $26 million per year the Yankees are paying Giancarlo Stanton, imagine paying Soto nearly $50 million per year at the back end of the deal. For a guy who is a brilliant hitter, but doesn’t really do anything else very well, specifically fielding and running.

No thanks. Have a great baseball life, we won’t miss not visiting the plaque in Monument Park you most likely would have received. Your place in the history of baseball’s most storied and decorated franchises, right there with Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio and Berra and Mantle and Jackson and Jeter and Judge, would have been a foregone conclusion.

Once it became clear the contract was soaring past $700 million, I was rooting for Steinbrenner to draw the line and just say no. The big surprise is that he didn’t actually do that because there were reports that he wound up essentially matching the Mets offer and Soto still walked away.

Not that I blame Soto because that’s what these guys do. It’s always about the money, and don’t ever believe an athlete when they say it isn’t.

But here’s the other part of this. Money aside, unless the Yankees make some big moves in this offseason to plug numerous glaring holes, the Mets might actually have the better team, and the better chance for long-term success. And I think Soto saw that and made it his final determining factor once the offers practically mirrored each other.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is quite a dose of comeuppance for the Yankees to know that Soto seems to think the little brother Mets are better than the big brother Yankees.

Hey, be glad of this: At least he didn’t end up in the AL East with the Red Sox or Blue Jays because that would have been way worse. He’s back in the NL, and the Yankees will only see him during the annual Subway Series.

Now what? Time to fix the roster

OK, so Soto is gone, and I’m not all that broken up about it. However, I will be broken up, and downright pissed off, if the Yankees don’t use the money they were going to give him - somewhere around $45-50 million this year - and use it to acquire a cadre of players who can help defend their AL pennant and perhaps win the World Series for the first time in a quarter century.

“There’s a lot of way to figure this thing out,” Cashman said. “We’re just gonna have to figure out a different way. We’re not going to be drunken sailors.”

Meaning, they aren’t going to spend gobs of reactionary money on players that aren’t worth it. Good, but let’s also say that he still needs to spend money because there are numerous holes on this roster. Lets take a look at where the Yankees stand as the Winter Meetings started Monday.

First base: Anthony Rizzo is not coming back, thankfully, and Ben Rice is nowhere near ready to be the full-time man there.

Second base: Gleyber Torres is not coming back, thankfully, so there’s another glaring hole that needs to be filled.

Third base: Jazz Chisholm is back for one more season, but would the smart play be to move him to second where he’s more comfortable, and then pursue a third baseman? Maybe.

Left field: Alex Verdugo is not coming back, thankfully. By the way, are you sensing a trend here regarding how I feel about some of the free agents?

Center field: Judge can now move back to right field where he’s much better suited, so the Yankees need to find a new left fielder and hope that Jasson Dominguez can figure out how to catch fly balls, regain some of the magic in his bat that he had when he had his glorious one-week MLB debut back in September 2023, and lock down center.

Pitching: The top six starters are all still under contract, but there are several relievers - namely Clay Holmes (already gone to the Mets), Tommy Kahnle, Tim Hill and Jonathan Loaisiga - who are free agents, and several others who carry big-time question marks regarding their usefulness such as Ian Hamilton, Jake Cousins, Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Effross and Ron Marinaccio.

I have no idea what Cashman has working, but I do know that I’d love for him to sign first baseman Christian Walker who has spent the last eight years raking for the Diamondbacks while also winning the last three NL Gold Glove awards. The only downside is that he’s 34 years old, but look at the production with Arizona since 2017: A slash line of .251/.331/.464 for an OPS of .795 while averaging 29 homers and 87 RBI.

Pete Alonso’s name keeps coming up as a potential replacement for Rizzo at first, especially as a counter move to the Mets grabbing Soto. Alonso is another player who I think won’t be worth what his market will be, probably in the $150 million range. I’m on Walker 100% over Alonso because Walker is a better player and he’d cost a lot less.

There’s been plenty of talk that the Yankees should be in on Orioles stud starter Corbin Burnes, but that’s going to take more than $200 million. Max Fried is also going to cost a fortune, so I’m not sure that’s the way to go, especially when they have Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, Nestor Cortes and Luis Gil locked in, with Cole and Rodon already costing so much.

My thought would be to try to trade Marcus Stroman, and one guy I think would work in return is ex-Yankee Jordan Montgomery. The contracts are fairly similar, and I’ll bet Monty would welcome a return to the Bronx, especially after the Diamondbacks’ owner essentially said after the season that he made a mistake signing Monty in free agency last year.

The Yankees have been linked to Orioles right fielder Anthony Santander because he hit 44 home runs last year. No thanks. He’s not good at anything else and is nothing more than a very, very poor man’s Soto in right field.

I’d consider Dodgers free agent Teoscar Hernandez who is a better all-around hitter than Santander, but he’s 32 and he’s not much better in the field. Last year he hit 33 homers and had an on-base of .339 and throughout his career he has killed the Yankees so hey, why not stop that from happening?

I feel like I’m just scratching the surface here, but honestly, I’m up to my eyeballs in Bills coverage right now and just can’t spend a lot of time breaking down the Yankees’ various needs. Hell, I’m writing this on the plane between Los Angeles and Chicago Monday. I will try to react when there’s news worth reacting to, and the Soto saga certainly fit that bill.

A Reminder to follow me on different platforms

I posted this in the last newsletter, and we do have a few new subscribers here at Pinstripe People, so thanks. That said, I still want to keep growing with everything I do, so another subtle reminder of where you can find me.

To help recruit subscribers here, you can do that in a variety of ways. Just copy and paste the subscribe link and share it on your various social media platforms. That could be Facebook, X, Bluesky, or wherever. You could even text it to friends and family. For many of you, I would guess Facebook is the best way to share. It’s about as simple as can be, and my hope is that it might reach Yankees fans who don’t know about the newsletter and would be interested in receiving it. Here’s that link: https://salmaiorana.beehiiv.com/subscribe. Just post it with a quick explanation like, “Hey, Yankees fans, you might really enjoy Sal Maiorana’s Pinstripe People newsletter. Click here to sign up for free.”

I’d also like you to know that I am now on the social media platform Bluesky which is growing rapidly. I’m not leaving X because I still have tens of thousands more followers there, including many of you, but if you’re inclined to start your own Bluesky account, I’d appreciate a follow there, just go to https://bsky.app/profile/salmaiorana.bsky.social. I have to say, I like the vibe there, and I really love that I don’t have to put up with ads and all the garbage that the X algorithm sends into my feed.

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Also concerning the Bills, I am doing a new podcast called BLEAV in Bills along with Adam Benigni who is a sports television anchor at channel 2 in Buffalo. We would love you to subscribe to the show wherever you listen to pods such as Apple and Spotify. Here’s the Apple link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bleav-in-bills/id1528124684. And here’s the Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/show/4soNqkDzQCsaxtILPiY2mF?si=d6336d447b104684

I hope you enjoyed the first installment of The Legacy of 27. Remember to watch for those every Wednesday. Next up, the 1927 World Series which was won by what many still consider the greatest Yankee team ever.