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If there is one common trait among baseball general managers who operate in markets with multiple teams, it is to avoid making blockbuster deals with the devil.
In most cases, that devil is the team that otherwise would be considered a neighbor. Intimacy breeds contempt, they say, and for baseball GMs, having too comfortable of a working relationship with the club nearest to you can affect perception.
So on the rare occasion that in-town or regional rivals do make deals, they are of a lower-impact variety. The nightmare comes when swaps are made at a higher level.
The most disastrous of deals among rivals went down in baseball lore when the Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 and additional perks in 1919.
While the Yankees reportedly placed a mortgage on Fenway Park, Ruth, as legend has it, put a curse on the Red Sox.
Deals of that magnitude among rivals are dinosaurs. The Los Angeles Angels never would have traded Shohei Ohtani to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Yankees certainly would not have shipped Juan Soto to the New York Mets under any circumstance.
Yet each player still managed to orchestrate their own deals to end up across town as free agents.
So eager to join the Dodgers and give himself a chance at a playoff appearance—not to mention a championship—Ohtani worked a $700 million deal by agreeing to have $680 million of it paid after the 10-year term ends.
The move not only allowed Ohtani to participate in a playoff game for the first time in his career, he played in 16 of them, five of which were in the World Series. And when Year 1 of a 10-year deal was complete, the Dodgers had the trophy they craved, and Ohtani had the ring he desired.
One season later, the scenario has again emerged. While Soto has already experienced World Series glory in 2019 with the Washington Nationals and played in another last season with the Yankees, his arrival with the Mets was simple economics.
Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets as opposed to the Yankees’ best offer, which was reported at 16 years and $760 million. That amounts to a $3.5 million difference per year.
Like the Dodgers were last season, the Mets are now on championship watch. They went as far as the National League Championship Series last year, and Soto could be the impetus to the Mets’ first appearance in the Fall Classic since 2000. That World Series was against the Yankees.
A Mets-Yankees World Series this season would continue the buzz started when the Dodgers-Yankees matchup this past October pitted a pair of longtime MLB superpowers against each other.
Soto’s move to Queens didn’t need any extra juice, but it got it anyway when the 26-year-old hit a home run Saturday during his first spring at-bat in his new uniform. If Soto can take his game to an even higher level, like Ohtani did after signing his free-agent contract, then a summer of can’t-miss star power awaits.
“Everybody knows who you are and everything, but they’ve got to see it with their eyes,” Soto told reporters in Port St. Lucie after Saturday’s game.
Perhaps Soto’s strength is knowing that for all he has done at such a young age—with 201 home runs and a career .953 OPS—he needs to keep proving himself while playing for his fourth club in eight seasons.
“I try to bring the vibes and the good energy everywhere I go,” Soto said. “For me, if I hit a homer or not, it’s just how it looks inside, in the clubhouse and the dugout. That’s all it’s about.”
Last season, the Dodgers rode a top of the order that consisted of Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman all the way to a title. The Mets, on Saturday, had Francisco Lindor batting in front of Soto, who was followed by Pete Alonso.
So pull up a chair to see if 2025 can follow a similar path as 2024. The Mets and Yankees meet May 16-18 in a three-game series in the Bronx that will have all eyes on it. The series finale has already been selected for national television.
One week later, the Mets will be at home for a three-game series against the Dodgers. Once again, the series finale has already been selected for national television. And barely one week later, the Mets will be in Los Angeles for four against the Dodgers.
And if that isn’t enticing enough, Fourth of July weekend will consist of three more games against the Yankees in Queens.
Fireworks are coming. Simply tune in.
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