SAN ANTONIO – With the GM Meetings almost over and the MLB offseason coming to life, there have been long-standing speculations about Juan Soto‘s freedom of choice has become a reality: the Mets and Yankees are popular with him.
Everyone expected that, and now it’s happening. But there is nuance to it.
Here are comments on both teams and Soto after the first few days:
— The Yankees loved having Soto this year and are clearly launching a massive effort to keep him. While the team viewed Soto as an agreeable teammate, a hard worker and a surprisingly poised and mature person for a 25-year-old, they also viewed him as a bit inscrutable.
Soto is a master at misleading questions about his preferences and future and has even left many Yankees people in the dark. In this regard, his freedom of choice is remembered Aaron Judge‘s, when the front office and ownership were left guessing about Judge’s preference between the Yanks and the San Francisco Giants.
— That said, there is certainly a sense among Soto that he enjoyed the Yankee experience and will return if the team makes what he considers a fair offer. The idea that Soto will simply go to the highest bidder no matter what seems too simple, but the Yankees will certainly have to come close. From a player perspective, Soto has a responsibility to future generations of free agents to continue to push salaries higher.
— This, of course, is where the Mets could come into play. The team has the ambition, resources and payroll flexibility to provide Soto with the best offer. There is a huge amount of informed speculation going around that they are planning to do this. I definitely get the impression that the Mets want to be very aggressive financially here.
But there is also nuance in that. Have it covered Steve Cohen I’ve noticed for four offseasons now that in order to go all-in on a free agent, he has to feel like the person is genuinely interested in the Mets. He was willing to pay Max Scherzer a historical annual salary, and offer Yoshinobu Yamamoto a recording contract for a pitcher because he had met these players and determined that signing them was at least possible.
Last fall, when Star Free Agent Manager Craig Counsell seemed transparent in his intent to use the Mets to drive up his own price, the Mets sniffed it out and actually made the low offer to Counsell, even less than the Milwaukee Brewers.
In other words, the upcoming meetings between the Mets and Soto will be extremely important in determining whether the Mets will indeed follow through on their intention to aggressively pursue Soto. They don’t allow themselves to be used.
— In the same vein, I don’t feel like the Mets feel like their only successful offseason is signing Soto. Cohen didn’t accept David Sterns primarily as a big game hunter, but as an executive skilled at finding hidden value in the marketplace. There are plenty of different paths he and his front office could take this winter.
— Finally, I don’t feel like the flaws in Soto’s play are giving either team much peace. He’s a one-dimensional player, but that’s one dimension Ted Williams level. I’ve asked people from both the Yankees and Mets if it bothers them to spend historic dollars on a Hall of Fame-level hitter who doesn’t play the outfield or run the bases well. It’s not entirely inevitable that Soto will spend much of his 30s as a designated hitter Giancarlo Stantonbut it is not difficult to imagine that outcome.
Still, his skills as a hitter — especially the otherworldly quality of his at-bats — are apparently enough to inspire baseball’s big boys to ignore the holes in Soto’s game, put on their big boy pants and pay big boy money. .
