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Buster Olney, ESPN Senior Writer
During Juan Soto’s conferences with the New York Yankees final month, one of many Yankees’ objectives was to present Soto an opportunity to get to know proprietor Hal Steinbrenner a bit of extra. Hal Steinbrenner is thought amongst his staff as respectful and deferential — a far cry from his father, George Steinbrenner. Hal defined to Soto that a part of the explanation he hadn’t spent a lot time with the slugger was as a result of he did not wish to be one thing of a distraction for a participant working in New York for the primary time.
General supervisor Brian Cashman stated on the time he traded for Soto a yr in the past that he understood it was a one-year rental and that Soto would possibly go away for one more group as a free agent. Now that actuality is right here, and it occurred in nightmare vogue for followers within the Bronx: Hal Steinbrenner provided Soto greater than double what they paid to retain Aaron Judge two winters in the past, and Soto turned them down. For the New York Mets.
When George Steinbrenner ran the group, he by no means had any downside foisting himself on the gamers — to the diploma, in fact, that his relationships with gamers usually gummed up the work of his normal managers and managers. George was used to getting his manner, and he was prepared to do no matter it took to make that occur. Now, that is a fame held not by his son, however by the Mets’ Steve Cohen, the wealthiest proprietor within the sport.
Over the course of the previous six weeks, the Yankees appear to have ceded their standing as the sport’s evil empire: outplayed by the star-laden Los Angeles Dodgers within the World Series, outbid by the crosstown Mets for one of many biggest hitters in baseball historical past.
