Every offseason, there's always one player that stands out as the cream of the crop. Last season, every MLB team fawned over Shohei Ohtani, who ended up picking the Los Angeles Dodgers. This offseason, it's Juan Soto, who is entering free agency after an MVP-caliber season with the New York Yankees.
Soto has said before that he will talk to multiple teams, and the Dodgers are part of that list. According to Mark Feinsand, LA is scheduled to have an interview with the Dominican star this week. This could give Dodgers fans hope that Soto could join their team.
Unfortunately, that same report also had a quote from an AL executive about Soto's likely destination that will dismay every team outside of New York. The executive told Feinsand that he thinks only the Yankees and the Mets have a chance at getting Soto.
“It’s the Yankees or the Mets,” the executive told Feinsand. “He knows the Yankees well after spending a year there, and Steve Cohen has enough money to give him whatever he wants if he decides he wants him badly enough. It’s tough for me to see Soto winding up anywhere else.”
The Mets, after a surprise run to the NLCS last season, could look to upgrade their roster. The Queens-based team made a deep run despite supposedly "rebuilding" last year. Given that, owner Steve Cohen might be motivated to improve their roster.
Meanwhile, the Yankees have every incentive to keep Soto in the Bronx. They made it all the way to the World Series thanks in large part to Soto taking a lot of pressure off of Aaron Judge. Letting the star go, either to their cross-town rivals or the team that beat them in the World Series would be a disastrous outcome.
