Brian Cashman gets candid about Juan Soto negotiations, surprise of Mets deal

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke on MLB Network Radio on Wednesday and gave perhaps his most revealing and candid take on the Juan Soto situations to date.

Cshman detailed a process where he and the Yankees felt like they were in a good place to land the free agent superstar every step of the way, until Soto signed a record $765 million deal with the crosstown rival Mets.

It seemed like a decision that took Cashman and the Yanks by surprise.

“There were hints of ‘You gotta get higher,’ ‘you’re in a good place,’” Cashman said. “Many times, ‘This is where he wants to be. He doesn’t want to be anywhere else. He loves it here.’ But you’re flying blind...you don’t know what their offers are.

“If I remember right, it was around three rounds of bidding, get your last offers in, and then they’re gonna deliberate and it’s gonna go quiet as they deliberate. That’s what happened...we were just waiting, waiting, waiting.”

As the waiting continued, rival teams began to surface as legitimate landing spots for Soto, and the bidding escalated over the weekend, with news breaking late Sunday night that Soto was Queens bound, declining the Yankees’ reported final offer of 16 years at $760 million.

Some reports indicated that the Yanks declined to match the Mets offer, which included an opt out and a clause that could take the total value north of $800 million, but Cashman denied that report.

“It was reported somewhere that we had a chance to match. That never happened,” Cashman said. “That wasn’t true. It was more, everyone was on equal footing, and he’s gonna decide what he wants to do.”

In the end, the Yanks were left without Soto, have already pivoted to Max Fried, and will look to fill the gaping hole that Soto leaves behind, after feeling confident that he would be in pinstripes for life.

“There was a period where it felt like we had been in the strong position every step of the way, and led to believe we were in the pole position the rest of the way,” Cashman said. “Then all of a sudden we start hearing stuff about the Red Sox. You don’t know what to believe. And then in the end, boom, the Mets, who were allegedly on the outside looking in.

“Even when the details come out, I won’t know what to believe out of it.”