NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Sure, look at this as nothing more than fun — maybe even fanciful — speculation, if you like.
But can anyone else see the Mets going for slugging superstar Juan Soto as a free agent next winter? I’d put that as a definite maybe, at the very least.
The Mets weren’t in on Soto as a rental because, as we know by now, they are really shooting for a 2025 World Series. They’ll be competitive this year, and you never know how things fall, but they aren’t going crazy — except in one case (which we’ll get to).
Mets owner Steve Cohen didn’t go for Aaron Judge as a free agent, and maybe he’s an especially polite neighbor (the two New York owners are said to have a very nice relationship), but here are a couple reasons why Soto may be a better fit than even Judge:
- Signing Judge would have been stealing a pinstripe legacy player and may not have been looked too kindly by his neighbor 8 miles to the north, especially only a couple years after Yankees ownership was one of the driving forces behind Cohen’s winning bid to become Mets owner.
- Signing Soto would be different since he’s not a longtime Yankees. He’s a rental player a year from free agency.
- Signing Soto may fit the Mets better than even Pete Alonso, who’s a free agent after this year, if one considers David Stearns’ first winter where the only big-time player he’s targeting is Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I don’t want to accuse Stearns of being ageist, but the enthusiastic Yamamoto pursuit could be an indication Stearns puts a big premium on youth. Like Yamamoto, Soto is only 25.
Soto’s agent Scott Boras and Yankees GM Brian Cashman coincidentally sat next to each other on a flight from the GM meetings in Arizona to Tampa, and while we don’t know what went on in that conversation, Cashman certainly understands Boras and Soto aren’t signing at a deep discount simply because he was lucky enough to be traded east (which he prefers) and to New York (where he has family).
They may have a conversation or two, but Soto didn’t blink at the Nats’ record $440 million, 15-year offer, and would only take what he considers a fair free-agent-type deal.
“We understand it’s a possible short-term situation,” Cashman said on a conference call regarding Soto.
They probably aren’t considering the possibility that Soto could move crosstown in a year. And why should they? The biggest advantage to the five-for-two trade is that it “significantly upgrades us,” Cashman said. But the other edge, of course, is they get a year to sell Soto on the tradition, to the accommodation to the consistent winning record, not to mention the lineup protection provided by Judge.
Cashman ruminated about making The Bronx “the mecca of baseball,” and while it’s short of that at the moment, with no World Series championships since 2009, it certainly holds that potential. Of course, the Mets have a lot to sell, too.