Sal Licata has maintained his belief that the Mets will land Juan Soto in free agency, holding that belief since the start of the 2024 season.
As Soto begins to make his rounds with his free agency meetings, Sal says that belief is starting to feel like a certainty.
“It feels like the seeds are starting to slowly be planted for Juan Soto to exit the New York Yankees,” Sal said. “There’s a lot of reason to start believing in the momentum that I’m feeling from afar...it’s starting to feel like a realistic possibility that the Yankees lose Juan Soto, and that, to me, would be a disaster for the Yankees.”
Soto reportedly met with the Red Sox for hours this week, and he will meet with the Blue Jays and Mets as well. Steve Cohen is expected to come with a load of cash, and Sal believes the money, combined with the atmosphere in Queens that Cohen has helped build, will lure Soto away from the Bronx.
“It’s not just about the finances...what if there’s something to be said about the way that the Mets are operating under Steve Cohen?” Sal said. “Would you say that the Mets were a fun organization this season, and that the owner seems to talk with his players a bit, down on the field and visible?
“There is a rigid, robotic-like, buttoned-up feel to the Yankees...there’s something to that type of environment versus the looser, maybe more fun type of environment that the Mets have. Maybe Juan Soto likes that as well.”
Sal insists that it’s not blind fandom, but there have been real bread crumbs sprinkled out that would suggest that Soto has real Mets intrigue, and he believes it will become a reality this winter.
“I believed it a year ago,” Sal said. “Now I’m starting to know that he’s leaving the Yankees.”