Juan Soto Going to the Mets Makes Me Want to leave Yankee Fandom

With the 765 million dollar man leaving, I am wondering what this means for the nature of Yankee fandom.

Sport fans are living in the era of the economical owner, where the big whales that own the team that you call your favorite team decide to pretend like they are running an insurance business as opposed to being eager to purely win. Today, owners are also “spreadsheet kings” that don’t want to go over the luxury tax, because it means sacrificing a little more green, despite the fact that owners would presumably make the money back in playoff ticket sales. It’s not worth it, owners want you to believe. You don’t have to go over a certain amount for your payroll in order to win. Maybe you’ve also heard the fact that the farm system will be stronger if they’re more frugal? It’s an intellectual racket, this idea. “Let’s pay for DJ LeMahieu, bank on a surging Gio Urshela instead of paying for Manny Machado”, perhaps a certain owner wonders. Somehow, these lackluster thoughts have often clouded the mind of Hal Steinbrenner. It’s made the Yankees decidedly less powerful, both within Baseball and the larger New York culture.

Meanwhile, Mets owner Steve Cohen is dreaming about holding the World Series trophy in front of an intense crowd at Citi Field since he became the owner of the Queens team, and possibly for his entire life. A self-made billionaire who comes from working class beginnings, who now is a hedge fund manager, Cohen is who the Billions’s main character Bobby Axelrod is based off of. (Cohen’s firm S.A.C. Capital Advisors was forced to shut down after pleading guilty for insider trading). When he purchased the Mets from the underwhelming and broke Wilpon family, Cohen promised the fanbase a winner, and a winner that spends money willingly and without remorse. The Mets went from a disappointing little brother to an excited force in the National League and the New York sports hierarchy. One can claim that their whimsy and colorful team is more popular than the Yankees and their imperial death march, especially since the bullets that Hal Steinbrenner has provided are no longer deadly. Say what you want about the Mets fan base — they tend to be as arrogant as they claim Yankee fans to be, and more miserable when things don’t go their way — but they show up to the ballpark when the team is good.

With the move to sign Juan Soto to a record setting 765 million deal, the Mets have ensured that the hype that Cohen brings is something tangible. It’s a move that positions the Mets as the second best team in the National League behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Soto is a marquee player, a Dominican player on a team that has a history of providing Latino players with a canvas for their unique personalities. He’s been compared to Ted Williams; the comparison is likely accurate. Through the age 25, he has a wrC+ than Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Every at-bat is an event, he takes no pitch off, and if the pitcher strikes him out, he earned it as much as he earned his contract. It’s also a move that positions the Mets as the premiere team in New York: Soto’s acquisition makes the Yankees look squeezed from every direction. Soto brought a flair to “Yankees Universe”, a dramatic way of playing when even Aaron Judge and his mammoth home runs are clinical and expected. Soto was the epitome of the exceptional Black athlete with the Yankees. He played with an inventive style, with his trademark shuffle inspiring rich imitations from all fans and even his manager, while still being talented, intense, and brilliant enough to satisfy even the most demanding and suspicious Yankee fans in the diaspora. It’d only been two months since he shuffled the Yankees to the World Series, swaggering and intimidating every Cleveland pitcher. The Mets went on a fairytale run in October in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season. Now, they upped the ante with Soto. This positions the Mets as the new Yankees: a shiny, talented team that will be appointment viewing every night. “Yankee fans” that felt disillusioned with the team and their culture — these people strike me as childish and annoying but I suppose their opinions still matter — are already talking about switching sides. A once proud fanbase is groaning. Soto extended our window and then shut it firmly.

This move has me wondering if this will be it for me as a Yankee fan, a fandom that I have been attached to before I could even walk. Uptown was Yankee land; I’ve been shopping for hats, looking up statistics, arguing at the barber shop, for as long as I can remember. Soto was the peak of the fandom in my lifetime, like watching Tony Gwynn hit, or Mariah Carey sing. Writing about it makes me sound like a broken record: he turned the team from boring to interesting, bland to chic. He hit homeruns that were majestic and timely. Furthermore, the most exciting thing about Soto might be how young he still is. At 26, he is entering his prime right now. Aaron Judge is 32, Gerrit Cole is 34. Giancarlo Stanton is 34. These are the end years, the years where they can no longer be the only guys carrying the team. Soto is, and was, a necessity, for a team that hasn’t won a World Series since 2009. To be every other team was not the ethos of the Yankees. They always seem to figure something out, as they are a competent franchise, but competent is not what I signed up for. Titles are. Ghosts were literally haunting the old Stadium; Babe Ruth’s gluttony, greed, and salt of the earth swagger helped create modern American society. What is sport without cheering for a team? Perhaps this is the time that I find out. Why would I care if Steinbrenner doesn’t care enough to pay for a man we have to have? We went to 760 million, but it was for more years, and slightly less average per year than Cohen went to. Hal Steinbrenner didn’t get this imperative move done.

Yankee fans have been exceptionally arrogant while discussing the Soto contract, citing the amount of money and years that the Mets signed him, plus the possible avarice it takes to want to play for the Mets anyway. I vehemently disagree with this. Soto owes us no loyalty, a trite idea in the world of sport, particularly since we are his third team. Yes, 765 million is a ton of money, and Soto will not be teaching any instructional videos on how to play defense, but if the goal is to win championships, then the Yankees just lost a key component. I can confidently say that championships won’t be won without Juan Soto. (I can’t tell you how much I don’t care about Heyman’s tweet about the clubhouse person that was overzealous with Soto’s family. That does not matter as much as Cohen’s money does. Even if it did, and I mean this respectfully, why can’t Soto’s family sit in the stands like the rest of us?)

Granted, a Yankee friend of mine, Jesse “Glock”, hello to Glock, has told me that eventually I will be back because it is in my blood, a “Yankee fan” mindset that is flushing through my body. Maybe I will, despite everything inside of me that is telling me to leave the fandom behind, because there is nothing more fun than when the Yankees are making a run and have a chance to make it to the World Series. Still, missing out on Soto has me sad and sullen. Forgive me for getting personal on the Substack blog, but the Soto move happened while I was in a state of bliss. I knew that it was possible that Soto would sign on Sunday night, but I was in the midst of longing and loving life. A new thing is happening in my life: I have a girlfriend. Mrs. Commas, whose real name will go protected in these quarters just in case any of you freaks like to pry too closely, was in the midst of beating me in a hard fought five game series of Uno. (Tough loss on my end. We get slightly competitive). She wondered why I would quit because I am so invested in the Yankees, as she has seen my blood run quickly, the hair on my arm rise after seeing a Giancarlo Stanton screamer. It made me think about it some more after saying that I would leave throughout the season if they didn’t re-sign Soto. It’s a tall task for someone like myself. I do know this: I will not be very invested in the team next season, as the Yankee hat is now purely a fashion accessory for me. Perhaps it is in my blood, but future uno games are my greater focus right now.