The Mets beat the Yankees in one of the biggest free agent sweepstakes in sports history, as their reported 15-year, $765 million deal outdid the Yanks’ reported 16-year, $760 million offer.
There are reported clauses in the Mets deal that could take it beyond $800 million, but in comparing the two offers at base value, the difference was nearly negligible. That’s why Rickie Ricardo says nobody should be ripping the Yankees for missing out on perhaps the biggest free agent the sport has ever seen.
“No Yankee fan should have any negative feelings towards Hal Steinbrenner or Brian Cashman,” Rickie said.
“We owe it to the great George Steinbrenner to not have any negative feelings. The Yankees offered this man more than any money any of us could have imagined. More than double they are paying their great captain Aaron Judge. More money than they ever paid Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez.”
Steinbrenner has taken plenty of heat over the years for not going “all in” the way his father George typically did, but Rickie says today is not the day for that. The Yanks offered a superstar more money than any player in the game has ever made, and in the scheme of things, Rickie believes the Yanks’ offer could have wound up being an overpay.
“We have no right to be upset at the New York Yankees tonight,” Rickie said. “Juan Soto took $5 million more - and I get there are incentives - this money is just mind-boggling amounts of money for one baseball player, who yes, is a generational hitter. He’s not a five-tool player.
“This is not a coping mechanism. This is reality. He is not a five-tool player...he’s an incredible hitter. That’s what the Mets are paying $765 million for. An all-time great hitter, not a five-tool player.”