Mets seen as being on better short-term track with Juan Soto as Yankees try to shake ‘staleness’

Maybe there is something to make out of Juan Soto not talking to any 2024 Yankees teammates during his free agency. But he also noted that he had zero conversations with Mets players.

That probably would suggest that this was a financial decision first, second and third, and he did not need to hear from former or future teammates to sway him one way or the other.

And, if that were the case, fine. Yankees fans can cry betrayal. But that does hypocritically miss that no organization has plucked players away from another team with a free-agent paycheck quite like the Yankees the past half century. And I do not remember the pinstriped loyalists having sympathy, empathy or anything much more than a good laugh toward the fan bases elsewhere who were bemoaning the loss of a cherished player.

The last time Soto had a choice where he would work, he was a teenager signing a $1.5 million bonus from the Nationals. He had no choice when he was traded to first the Padres then the Yankees. Can you imagine if you were traded from your company to another across the country — and then again? It might make you think less about loyalty and more about yourself.