Now that the dust has begun to settle in the aftermath of Juan Soto’s eventual $800 million defection from the Yankees to the Mets, the question is just how much the balance of New York baseball power has actually shifted?
At first blush, the loss of a superstar player of Soto’s caliber severely weakened the Yankees while, at the same time, pundits proclaimed the Mets to now be in the same class as the National League’s elite teams: the Dodgers, Braves and Phillies. But in just two short weeks, the Yankees made three major moves to improve their lot post-Soto, while the Mets have been seemingly stuck in neutral in failing to address their biggest need — starting pitching — which was also their biggest need before they even signed Soto.
Dipping first in their $750 million war chest of saved money on Soto, the Yankees gave Max Fried the largest contract ever for a left-handed pitcher, eight years, $218 million. Even though it was a gross overpay (certainly in years) for a 30-year-old pitcher with a recent history of forearm issues who has only once thrown more than 180 innings in a season, there’s no denying Fried is a genuine ace and the perfect complement to Gerrit Cole at the top of their rotation. They then quickly followed that up by trading with the Brewers for former All-Star closer Devin Williams, thus significantly fortifying their pitching staff on both the front and back ends.
OK, fine, said the Yankee skeptics, but how are they going to replace those 41 homers, 109 RBI and league-leading 128 runs from Soto? The answer is they aren’t, but the acquisition of Cody Bellinger from the Cubs last week gives them a player with decent power and speed, with superior defense and athleticism and, unlike Soto, has previously won an MVP award and genuinely wanted to be a Yankee.
It is the Yankees’ hope that most of that lost Soto production can be covered by a combination of Bellinger in center, Jasson Dominguez in left, further improvement by Austin Wells behind the plate and whoever they wind up signing for first base. Obviously a lot is riding on Dominguez, being given his first full shot as an everyday player, to finally live up to the immense hype that has followed him after signing a franchise record $5.1 million international free agent bonus as a 16-year-old back in 2019.
Of course the name of the game in baseball is, and always has been, pitching and you have to say, top to bottom, the Yankees’ pitching is presently far superior to the Mets’. When it comes to starting pitching, Mets baseball ops chief David Stearns has so far eschewed any expensive Fried-like long-term deals, opting instead for short term, often reclamation projects, such as Luis Severino and Sean Manaea, previously, and now Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning so far this offseason. Manaea is said to be seeking a four-year deal off his breakout season with the Mets last year — which he’ll probably get — and which is why Stearns has been unable to lure him back to Queens.
But even with the vast addition of Soto, does Stearns seriously envision the Mets going to the World Series with a rotation comprised of any kind of combination of Montas, Canning, Holmes, David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Kodai Senga (or a hopeful breakthrough by Brandon Sproat) — and not a legitimate No. 1 workhorse (a la Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler) among them? If he’s not interested in getting in on Corbin Burnes, it seems to me it would behoove Stearns to get in on the Mariners’ auction of Luis Castillo or the Marlins’ Jesus Luzardo. He has the prospect capital to get either one, and if he doesn’t do a major upgrade to his rotation, he is risking wasting Soto.
IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD
What about Roki Sasaki? The Mets reportedly met last week with the 23-year-old Japanese prodigy, who according to all the scouts would definitely qualify as a bona fide top-of-the-rotation starter. Because of his age, however, Sasaki has been designated an amateur international free agent and can sign only a minor league contract, rendering Steve Cohen’s deep pockets moot. The Yankees also plan to meet with Sasaki, but word is he’s not interested in signing with an east coast club and will most likely wind up with either the Padres (where he’s said to be very close to Yu Darvish) or the Dodgers. … The Rays’ situation in Tampa remains in limbo despite the Pinellas County board reversing its initial dissenting stance with a 5-2 approval to advance the sale of $312.5 million in bonds for the proposed $1.3 billion ballpark to be built as part of a massive redevelopment of the Gas Plant section of St. Petersburg, the site of where Tropicana Field is. The new hurdle for a deal is the county’s delay in approving the bond issue has made it impossible for the new stadium to be ready for the 2028 season and the cost overruns for a year’s delay have been estimated at slightly more than $100 million. Rays owner Stu Sternberg is balking at ponying up any more money and the Rays would be responsible for the cost overruns. It took a personal meeting with Rob Manfred and the previously dissenting Pinellas County commissioners to change their minds. But the commissioner clearly wants the Rays to stay in the Tampa Bay market and there is new speculation that if the St. Pete deal fails, Manfred may order Sternberg to sell the team and bring about a renewal of Tampa interests in a proposed stadium in the downtown Channelside section near the Lightning’s hockey arena.