By rule, the Mets couldn’t offer a tour of beautiful Citi Field and its not-as-lovely immediate environs to Yankees superstar Juan Soto on the occasion of his first visit there Tuesday in his platform season (If they did, presumably they’d skip the chop shops, which are going away, anyway).
Of course, opposing owners and executives are disallowed in-season from working to persuade megastar rivals (or even mediocre rivals) to jump to their teams in winter.
They aren’t even allowed to talk about those players yet.
That will have to come later.
While tea leaves, rumor, innuendo and maybe a little history suggest the Mets could be the biggest outside threat to sign Soto, the guess by most remains that the Yankees’ star-crossed little brother will have work to do, assuming they are so inclined. If anyone but the Yankees hold any advantages, you can’t tell it from Soto, who had a few interesting things to say in an interview with The Post on his way onto the field for his first Subway Series game:
- If anyone thinks he’s signing in-season, they can forget it (The Yankees said they were going to try in-season but behind the scenes they seem to understand it isn’t happening). When I suggested to Soto the Mets could make a play for him, he said, “We will see. In the offseason we will figure it out. I’ll let [agent Scott Boras] do his thing. We’re going to see.”
- If anyone thinks he isn’t loving the Yankees, they’re also wrong. “It’s been great, it’s been a great experience,” Soto said before hitting a solo homer in the Yankees’ 9-7 loss to the Mets in the teams’ Subway Series opener. “It’s been fun — great teammates, great players. It’s been great so far … It’s nice to hit in front of [Aaron Judge]. It just makes my job easier, and hopefully I can make his job a little easier, too.”
- And if anyone thinks he’s even thinking about anyone besides the Yankees now, forget that, too. Soto, passing on a Subway Series marketing opportunity, said, flatly, “It’s another series, another team we’ve got to beat to go all the way to the World Series.”
As much as Soto is enjoying the Yankees, they’re loving the player who’s turning out to be everything they hoped for and more; entering Tuesday he was hitting .305 with a .994 OPS (including a league-leading .431 on-base percentage). It was no surprise Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner told Jack Curry of YES they want to make him a “lifetime Yankee.”
One rival GM suggested he just assumes Soto’s staying in The Bronx, presumably not only because things are going that well at 161st and River but because the Yankees have very deep pockets (though, no one has deeper pockets than Mets owner Steve Cohen). Of course, things don’t always turn out like you expect in free agency. Anyone could play for a 25-year-old superstar. But here are the likeliest teams to watch out for:
4. Red Sox: They look a lot closer to winning than anyone figured, and their fans want to see more commitment from ownership since the Mookie Betts debacle.
3. Phillies: They are one team that’s batting close to 1.000 with their big signings. Their lineup is stacked and their outfield is pretty strong — though it’s somewhat less so with the move of superstar Bryce Harper to first base.
2. Dodgers: They’re always a threat, and don’t think their $1.4 billion winter spending spree means they are tapped out. They rarely pass up a chance to at least play for the biggest and best.
1. Mets: No one should be surprised if the Mets made a play. While two winters ago Cohen politely passed on the great and homegrown Judge, the Mets were coming off a 101-win season then (while the Mets are trending up at the moment, things obviously have changed).
We don’t know for sure that the Mets intend to try to steal Soto, but despite the general consensus that he’ll be back in The Bronx, there are reasons the Yankees aren’t guaranteed to be able to stop the steal. As rich as the Yankees are — it’s no surprise their revenues annually rank first, though the Dodgers and Red Sox are doing OK, too — Cohen is the one owner that has the ability to buy almost anyone he wants.
And give Cohen this. He wants to win enough he’s willing to lose serious loot. The Post reported the Mets lost $200 million-plus last year, and it stands to reason that this year should show comparable red ink with the payroll down only slightly and attendance also down.
While new baseball president David Stearns is said by former colleagues disinclined to spend big on big free agents who are in their late 20s, Soto’s age may make him that rare tempting case. In Stearns’ first winter, the Mets bid $325 million on Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who was also only 25) while passing on all the other big stars seeking very long deals.
As for Soto, he isn’t talking much about free agency yet, but he did agree on one thing: “It’s going to be fun.”
