1. That he was truly a generational hitter.
2. That he was a so-so right fielder.
3. That he and Aaron Judge comprised the best one-two punch in baseball.
4. That he would be a Yankee for life.
Yeah, right. Well, it's barely two months since Soto kissed Stevie Cohen's ring - (or was it the other way around?) The Mets have MLB's 4th best record, three wins above the Yanks. As the teams prepare for their first Subway Series, it's hard to imagine what the Yankees lost - and gained - by refusing to include a fucking luxury box in their basket of goodies, designed to keep Soto.
Where would they be, if Soto stayed?
Clearly, if you inserted him into the current Yankee lineup, he surely would be inspiring bigger numbers on the Jumbotron. Look at the Yankee offense:
a) Soto's .255 batting average is below Aaron Judge (.412) and Paul Goldschmidt (.346) and one point ahead of Ben Rice (.254).
b) In HRs, he has 8, behind Judge (15), Trent Grisham (12) and Rice (9), and tied with Austin Wells.
c) In RBIs, he has 20, below Judge (41), Wells (28), Anthony Volpe (24), Goldschmidt (22) and Grisham (22) - and tied with Jasson Dominguez.
Seriously, stick Soto in front or behind Judge - it doesn't matter - and his totals would almost have to improve. Yes, Pete Alonso is having a year, .(311 with 9 HRs), and Francisco Lindor is no slouch (.297 with 9 HR), but the Mets have not produced the offense of the Yankees.
But but BUTT... where would the Yankees be, had they shelled out for Soto?
1. Would they have signed Max Fried? He was the most sought after - and expensive - starter on the market. If Soto stayed, it's hard to imagine Food Stamps Hal still flashing his wallet - and making Fried a Yankee. In fact, a frustrated Stevie Cohen would probably have grabbed Fried. Since the injury to Gerrit Cole, with the exception of all-universe Judge, it's hard to imagine a more important Yankee.
2. Would the Yankees have signed Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger? Maybe - both were coming off troubled seasons and from teams that didn't want to pay their big salaries. But with Soto in RF, Judge would have stayed in CF - challenging his legs and body - and eliminating Grisham's huge spring. How much of Judge's incredible resurgence is due to not playing CF? We cannot know. But it's a thing.
Listen: Soto is heating up, and his boost to the Mets was profound in more ways than simply the current stats. By signing him, the Mets beat the Yankees in a global auction. They brazenly signed a Yankee star. They are New York's best and richest team. They are what the Yankees used to be.
But the Yankees are better off without him. Suck on that, Mr. Met.
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25 comments:
This is getting out of hand and it’s time to move on. It’s as if your wife left you and is now shacked up with your best friend. Stop all the crying and let the bitch be. It’s over. She’s moved on and so should you.
How can I move on when she's buried in the back yard and the dog keeps sniffing around? ⛏️
She broke my heart. And for that, the succubus must pay.
ED, if Cohen had offered you the luxury box, you’d be wearing a Mets uniform too! The real culprit in this deal is Hal, who wouldn’t fork over the goods and likely will always stop one player short of a ring.
Besides, you’ve got the biggest, baddest bitch in the universe on your side. And he didn’t leave his heart in San Francisco for a few extra sheckels. So put down your latest issue of Penthouse and come out of the bathroom FFS!
This sad thread needs a soundtrack:
You say you're gonna go and call it quits
gonna chuck it all and break our love to bits
(breaking up) I wish you never said it
(breaking up) No no, we'll both regret it
That little chip of diamond on your hand
ain't a fortune babe but you know it stands
(for your love) a love to try and bind us
(such a love) we just can't leave behind us
Baby (don't you go) baby (no no no)
Baby (think it over and) stay-ay
Let's hang on to what we've got
Don't let go girl, we've got a lot
got a lot o' love between us
Hang on, hang on, hang on to what we've got
(doo-woop, doo-woop, doo-woop)
Right-O DickAllen! What is it with Juan Soto that drives Duque (and many other Yankee fans) nuts? It was just a one year fling engineered by Dumbass Cashman to get more fannies in the seats. BTW Cashman is only a dumbass by baseball result standards. He is a fucking genius at making HAL happy by continuing to plod along to the bank and deposit bags of gold into the Yankee coffers, without upsetting the boat too much. Would they make even more money if they won ten consecutive World Championships? Probably, but HAL don't care about that. He's in a very nice financial spot and he'll take no chances. They had to do the Soto trade because people were bailing out on the Yankees like a sinking ship. After they stopped the bleeding, Soto was too expensive for them, so they moved on.
No, they would not have signed any of those guys if they had re-signed Soto. It would've been Soto and done, for 15 years. So them re-signing Soto would've been an epic disaster that would've made the Stanton disaster deal look like a peanut in comparison. We should get down on our knees and thank God that Steve Cohen lured Soto away, that's the truth.
Soto hitting in front of Judge last year produced big results. What if they put The Martian in front of Judge? What kind of results would The Martian put up?
I would put Dominguez in #1, #2 or #5. Judge #3. Bellinger or Goldschmidt #2 or #4. Volpe should hit #8. The rest you can sort out.
The other day, Dominguez scored from 1st base on a single. Been a long time since a Yankee did that.
Now here come the Mutts to kick the Yankees around again. The annual Yankee ass kicking by the Mutts. Will the Yanks win at least one game against the Mutts this year? I don't know. Gonna be tough. Especially with Ba-Boone in the dugout. Sometimes it feels like I've been tied to the whipping post, tied to the whipping post, Good Lord I feel like I'm dying....
@Hammer and the other members of the "let it go" gang :) -
While you are essentially correct that it feels like El Duque is obsessing over an ex I would remind all of you that we are attending a "wedding" this weekend so to speak and our "ex is going to be there with the "guy" she chose over us.
Worse the "guy" lives in the same city and appears to be doing better than us. I do want to point out that we would be doing just as well if it wasn't for Williams coughing up four games. But that's a different story for a different time.
Are we better off without Soto? Yes! But like the Babe and Lou or Mickey and Roger or Fred and Ginger... Soto and Judge had the feel of an immortal pairing and it's weird and somewhat painful to see Ginger dancing with Buddy Ebsen.
All of that said, it the pain will fade in time and I'm sure El Duque will adjust. In the meantime... throw at his head. (Nah. I'm kidding. Just strike him the fuck out... Every. Time.
Who's this Soto guy everybody's talking about? Our right fielder is beating the pants off of him, defensively and offensively. Our center fielder (Grish) is beating the pants off of him, offensively and defensively. Our first baseman is beating the pants off of him, offensively and defensively. And he's, what, neck and neck with Ben Rice offensively? Plus, we have the Martian. Another generational hitter? Maybe. Soto had a couple of not-great years in his young career. Everyone assumes he'll just get better, but will he? Nobody knows for sure. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Maybe his career with not be the glorious spectacle that, say, Judge's is turning out to be (game-winning HR for Judge yesterday to win the game--finally and decidedly clutch).
In retrospect, I'm glad he's gone and Fried and Goldy are here. And Grish is still here. But I've lost patience with Volpe. We need a better shortstop, offensively and defensively. And a third baseman, probably. And better starters, though hats off to Warren for two good outings in a row.
When's Gil coming back? We need him. Soto? Nah, we don't need him.
Your fingertips to God's ear, Doug.
100% with you Dick!
Don't worry, you'll feel mighty happy when he pulls a hammy and is out for three months. Yanks should hit the ball to the right field corner a lot. Get Soto to track 'em down. He'll hurt himself when he reaches for that extra gear ... and his hamstring can't handle it. He escaped significant injury a few times last year by the skin of his teeth. But he always plays hard, and he's a year older and his luck will run out sooner or later.
I have to think that Grisham must've gone to a swing doctor over the winter. Maybe even Judge's swing doctor. I thought Grisham would've slowed down by now, but it seems he's still going pretty strong.
I still think that Grisham should be the odd man out 2 or 3 times a week. I figure it's more important to develop Dominguez and Rice. And I still think Bellinger and Goldschmidt should play too, not sit on the bench. Somebody has to sit on the bench several times a week, even with a rest day thrown in for the starters. Sorry, Trent.
If there are two lines drawn on the ground. One is yours and the other line is for the other guy. How do you make his line shorter? No, you shouldn't cut the other guy's line. The easiest way is to just make your line longer. You'll be happier and live longer that way.
Soto was and remains
one of baseball’s preeminent hitters. At the end of the season his stats will eclipse every Yankee’s, save Judge. The real shame of this is not that Soto left for an org more focused on winning, but that the vomitous Yankee ownership refused to provide the necessary midseason upgrades needed to push the team over the top in Soto’s one guaranteed season of tenure. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that we are always crippled by having one of the worst fielder managers in the game, an inept tactician and outright liar who is not up to the task yet was rewarded anyway.
I have a lot of trepidation over this weekend’s series, which I fully expect the Mets to win. Will Judge outplay Soho? Magic 8-ball said “Outlook No So Good”
Volpe just doesn't make the best use of his talents. Does he have anything in that head of his? He needs a personal hitting and fielding coach. I used to think that, at the major league level, guys were good enough that the coaches didn't make much difference, that all coaches were essentially the same, and changing the batting coach wouldn't make any difference to a bad hitter. Obviously, that assumes that the coaching they're getting is excellent already. That may not be the case. That's why somebody can get outside coaching and suddenly get a lot better. And sometimes a good personal coach makes a big difference simply because everyone is different and the right coach can make "a connection" with you. Sometimes a new coach sees something that you should be doing. It's not much different than having a great teacher or the right teacher for you when you're in school. It can make a huge difference.
One player in baseball doesn't make any difference when the team is generally mediocre. Mike Trout, when he was Soto's age was the superior player. Yet what has he won? Which shows that the media driven narrative which started back in the eighties concerning "greatness" and Rings is just bullshit. I'm no fan of Hal and his dwarves but if he had snagged Soto we would soon learn to be happy with a winning season. And I will venture to say that Cohen won't give his GM the endless open checkbook. In the end he will turn out to be another Goldfinger. And you know what they say about Goldfinger...
What do they say about Goldfinger?
Wouldn't you have just loved to be a fly on the wall (or a bird on the open windowsill) with the Soto negotiations? Very interesting, all of it. Ultimately, he chose the club that made him feel like family, which is what he wanted. The Yankees were too corporate in their approach. Soto reported that Cashman kept changing stuff and it became too much of a pain in the ass. BTW, that's the m.o. of a negotiator who really doesn't want to do the deal. Every time you offer a little more money overall, but you go back and change other stuff in order to irritate the other party. Do that enough and often the other party simply says "fuck this" and does the deal with somebody else.
If HAL was really serious about winning, all he had to do was lure Yamamoto here. You could theorize that Yamamoto was only using the Yankees to up the Dodgers' offer. But since they Yankees never really made a knockout offer, we'll never know. (I think he would've signed here, if the Yankees really went ballistic.) And plus if they'd signed Josh Hader when he was available, these things would've changed the entire tenure of the 2024 World Series.
Anyway, if they had signed Yamamoto, and then re-signed Soto and also signed Max Fried and Goldschmidt, now you're really talking about a championship caliber super club for 2025. Instead, HAL complains about the payroll and how it takes money out of his pockets and the investors' pockets. The New York Yankees have turned into the Kansas City Royals. Finances are everything now, and winning is not really on the priority list (though they pretend that it is). They're still short on starting pitching and bullpen. It's tough to win with offense. Doesn't happen often. Maybe occasionally, but you need a "never say die" kind of lineup that is "hard to kill". (Apologies to Ozzy Osbourne and Steven Seagal.) This Yankee lineup is explosive against mediocre or bad pitching, but they're a lot like Swiss cheese. They're soft and full of holes, easily stopped cold by good pitching. This ain't the 1996 Yankee lineup, or the 2002 Angels.
He loves only gold, only gold. HE LOVES GOLLLLD!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, right now they have a guy hitting like Ruth and a spry old-timer who seems to have found another gear. Can this keep going? But they are frighteningly thin everywhere, if they lose certain players they have zero chance of hanging on. It's really up to our Mr. Drysdale, isn't it?
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