That’s not a title I ever wanted to jot down out, but yet here we are.
On Sunday evening Steve Cohen landed his game-changer in Juan Soto.
The aftermath is a rearranging of the landscape of baseball as well as New York sports.
$765,000,000 over 15 years.
A $75M signing bonus.
Dude’s signing bonus was $8M more than that total figure.
This was his fuck you to baseball and his moment to fully establish himself in New York.
And hey, this was the right player to do it for.
Now should Soto be dwarfing the present-day value record that Ohtani set last offseason?
Cohen finally flexed his muscle and announced the Mets as big boys at the table.
This is the new world.
And let’s make one thing certain.
This was always between just the Yankees and Mets.
Not that it means anything now, but he was never going anywhere else.
The Blue Jays were never landing Juan Soto.
$765M was the winning bid.
The Yankees final offer came in at 16 years/$760.
Juan Soto chose the Mets because he wanted to be a Met.
He was sold their plan of constant investment into the team and he bought in.
If he wanted to be a Yankee the money was there and then some.
Juan Soto truly believed the Mets offered him a better future.
That is damning and depressing.
This is the picture Scott Boras painted to Soto.
For all intents and purposes they’d be running the same roster back minus Gleyber and Holmes.
Soto was going to be their one and only prize of the offseason.
They’re going to keep adding.
I believe they’re going to be in on Corbin Burnes and Max Fried to strengthen their weak rotation.
Maybe a back end reliever as well.
Cohen’s pockets are endless.
I’m willing to bet Scott Boras hammered that home to Soto when it came to picking his team.
He’s not George and will balk at luxury tax numbers when the payroll gets too high.
you’re free to’t restrict him from spending with penalties.
His determined mission to spend and win is what sold Soto over the Yankees.
So if you’re the Yankees now, where do you turn to?
What is Plan B?
Spoiler alert, it’s not pretty.
For sure, but boy is it harder to visualize and execute.
Soto changed so much just by himself.
There is no obvious direction here, which is terrifying.
So yeah, I don’t love what Plan B entails.
Max Fried or Corbin Burnes will be targets to fortify this rotation.
Possibly Garrett Crochet as well, but the White Sox asking price is enormous.
Luis Castillo is a fun name to pry from Seattle, but it would depend on the ask.
This past season Aaron Judge saw the most pitches in the strike zone of his entire career.
It’s no coincidence that’s the same season he had Juan Soto hitting in front of him.
You cannot replace that presence.
Willy Adames is off the board and in San Francisco so cross him off your wish list.
I’d be stunned if Cody Bellinger isn’t traded in the coming days.
Is he a stunner by any means?
The last guy I want is Pete Alonso.
Eh for the price he’s asking for and what he’s produced lately?
After that you’re looking at names like Anthony Santander (pass) and Christian Walker (potentially).
Ha-Seong Kim feels like a guy they bring in at 2B as the anti-Gleyber Torres.
Teoscar Hernandez is out there as well, but the Dodgers and Red Sox are eying him big time.
What I’m getting at is the hitting market takes a steep drop after Soto.
I mean of course it does, we’re talking about a generational player in Soto.
You don’t see players of his caliber ever hit the open market at his age.
It simply does not happen.
That’s why Steve Cohen decided this was his guy to make a statement.
If the Yankees went to $775M he was going to $800M.
It wouldn’t have ended.
They aren’t the only rich team in the game.
The Dodgers and Mets have nearly endless pockets.
It’s a new game, maybe this was the moment they all realized that.
I said there’s no name out there who replaces Soto’s presence in the lineup after Judge.
I meant that, but there’s one player who would soften the blow Kyle Tucker.
The Astros outfielder is about to enter his final year of control with Houston.
Probably nothing more than a pipe dream, but I’m trying here.
At the end of the day this sucks.
I suppose it could be worse if he went to Boston.
I’d never be able to live in that world.
Sure is, what am I supposed to do?
I’m fucking miserable.
I’m mad I woke up today.
A silent, peaceful death in my sleep would have been my personal Plan B.
Instead I need to deal with the freaks in Klemmer and Meek Phil on a daily basis now.
Now the offseason actually begins.
The Winter Meetings are underway in Dallas and the big fish is off the board.
Expect a ton to get done over the next few days.
Shout out to Aaron Judge for his role during the Soto sweepstakes.
He said he didn’t need to talk to Soto to convince him, Nice man, good stuff.
