When Juan Soto entered free agency, the threat of Steve Cohen outbidding the field by a substantial margin loomed, but the New York Yankees felt like obvious favorites to re-sign him.
Sure, the New York Mets were coming off a great year, but the Yankees have a history of sustained success, and they also happened to have been coming off a World Series appearance themselves. Soto had the chance to hit in front of Aaron Judge for the next decade or longer, and add multiple World Series trophies on top of that.
Cohen wound up winning the bid for Soto’s services, but it wasn’t by the substantial margin that most expected. Soto is a Met, and he chose the Mets over the Yankees despite pretty comparable offers, implying that the outfielder simply thought Queens was where he’d rather be…