Nobody predicted back in 2012 that the New York Mets would steal the New York Yankees’ second-best player from under their nose 13 years later. That is, nobody except Taylor Swift.
After all, it’s the only explanation for how she knew to begin a song called “22” with the lyric, “It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters and make fun of our exes.”
She hit the nail on the head: Yankees fans are spending our nights making fun of our ex-right fielder who wore number 22 — or crying about him, but close enough.
I think bad things happen to the Yankees when The Hoya doesn’t print. On Dec. 8, while I had the displeasure of spending my Sunday night in the library writing a final, the news broke that the Mets signed then-free agent Juan Soto to a 15 year, $765 million contract.
Of course, I did not find out from a baseball news source. I found out when my phone started blowing up with texts ranging from “I’m gonna die” to “uh oh” to “HAHAHAHA.”
I knew.
I calmly closed my computer — no chance I was getting any work done — and FaceTimed my parents. Our group chat had been called “give me juan soto;” I changed it to “fjs” immediately. My editors will censor me if I tell you what that stands for. I stared at my parents on the phone for a second, then hung up. Then, I took a lap and bought myself consolation Twizzlers. They tasted like plastic.
And then, an hour later, I found out the worst part: Juan Soto had betrayed the Yankees for a measly $5 million. The Mets gave him $765 million; the Yankees had offered him $760 million.
Seriously?
I cannot comprehend how much $765 million is, but I know it is not going to buy anyone a significantly better quality of life than $760 million will. And money can buy a lot of things, but it cannot buy a legacy.
The Yankees have a long history of players whose careers are defined by a lengthy tenure on the Yankees and a couple of World Series rings to show for it. Babe Ruth. Mickey Mantle. Joe DiMaggio. Lou Gehrig. Yogi Berra. Derek Jeter. Mariano Rivera. Aaron Judge, soon enough.
For $5 million — 0.65% of the contract he signed — Juan Soto gave up his opportunity to join that list. And he was well on his way: Yankees fans are not going to forget that he sent them to the 2024 World Series with a 3-run homerun in extra innings this past October. It means nothing to us now, but we still remember that it happened.
Instead of building on that legacy, he chose to play on the Mets. And wear orange.
The Mets are … well, the Mets. They are known for living in the Yankees’ shadow and consistently finding a way to fall on their faces. They are the Jets of baseball, and I am all too familiar with the pain of being a Jets fan. The Yankees, on the other hand, are a perennially successful team that has not had a losing season since 1992.
Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP), understood that the value of wearing pinstripes cannot be quantified. After the 2022 season, Judge accepted the Yankees’ offer for a nine-year, $360 million contract. In doing so, he turned down an offer from the San Diego Padres for over $400 million. Judge was smart enough to realize that being remembered as a forever Yankee is worth far more than that $40 million difference.
A few months before he signed, reporters snapped photos of Judge wearing a sweatshirt that said “New York or Nowhere.” And he didn’t mean Queens.
Soto, on the other hand, tossed his pinstripes aside for $5 million. That’s about the price of a bag of Kit Kats in college student money.
To their credit, the Yankees have bounced back admirably. Instead of throwing almost $1 billion toward one player, they have doled out contracts to two-time All-Star starting pitcher Max Fried and seven-time All-Star and former National League MVP first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and traded for two-time All-Star closer Devin Williams.
But they shouldn’t have had to do that. And now, for the next 15 years of my life, I’m going to have to look at Soto’s punchable face in a Mets uniform.
In case you were Juan-dering, I’m no longer “feeling 22.”