The Mets are suddenly in the same situation as the Yankees when Juan Soto left for the Mets, strategically trying to replace Pete Alonso. That's ironic.
Basically, both sides were going to spend $1 to keep a slugger, but when he left, they realized the best use of the money was to cut it into a quarter, instead of one quality. It was decided that it would be useful to divide it into amounts of players.
One Rival American League executive said this about the Yankees. [Aaron] Judge and Soto are real. It was special. And it might bite them. But given the budget, they were better off doing what they did. They would have had Soto and more holes. This makes the whole team better. ”
Hal Steinbrenner has put an actual payroll limit on the Yankees, but he expects them to spend just over $300 million for luxury tax purposes, which currently ranks behind the Dodgers and Phillies. So if Soto had accepted the Yankees' $760 million offer, they wouldn't have taken Max Fried, and they probably wouldn't have taken Cody Bellinger either.
