Dwight Gooden doesn't think the Yankees and Mets will have a bidding war for Juan Soto

Dwight Gooden has a message for those anticipating an epic bidding war between Steve Cohen and Hal Steinbrenner for Juan Soto:

Don’t count on it.

“I don’t see it,” Gooden said after an autograph signing at the Fanatics Fest NYC on Saturday afternoon at the Javits Center. “I think the only way, and this is just my opinion, but the only way the Mets really go after Soto is if the Yanks can’t sign him. Then I think the Mets will step in and go after him. But normally you don’t ever see the two teams going after the same guy.

“If you’re trying to win and you’re interested in Soto, you [have] to put all the friendship and personal stuff aside and do what you [have to] do to make your team better. That’s what I feel.”

Soto has been as advertised in his first season with the Yankees. As of late Saturday afternoon, he ranked seventh in Major League Baseball in batting average (.302), fifth in home runs (34), seventh in RBIs (87) and first in walks (103).

“He’s legit,” Gooden said of Soto, who will be a free agent after the season. “If I’m starting a franchise, I’m not saying I’d give him whatever he wants, but I’m making him very happy for the next 10 years and build my team around him.”

Regardless of whether Soto is the Mets’ long-term centerpiece, Gooden hopes his former team will be able to retain free agent-to-be Pete Alonso. He noted that Soto is represented by Scott Boras, who also is Alonso’s agent.

“Boras scares me more than Pete,” Gooden said. “When he got Boras, I’m like, uh-oh. Boras is the top guy and he gets the top dollars. And somebody out there might say hey, we’re willing to give you this [amount of money].”

There is plenty of time before free agency begins, and until then, the season takes precedence. Gooden threw a no-hitter for the Yankees after his brilliant career with the Mets, and there is the possibility that both of those teams will be playing in October.

When asked to assess both teams’ rotations, Gooden believes that the Yankees are better suited to be in the playoffs because of the relative health of their rotation.

“The Yankees’ rotation is better than the Mets’ rotation right now,” Gooden said. “I like [Christian] Scott and I think if he makes it back, that would definitely boost their rotation. [Kodai] Senga obviously would have helped, but he’s missed so much time and I don’t see him coming back. If he did, it would be like spring training all over again. I’d say that the Yankees have a little better chance with their rotation right now.”

While Gooden’s point about the health of the Mets’ rotation is valid, his teammate on the 1986 Mets, Ray Knight, believes the 2024 team is coming into its own.

“Just happy that they’ve begun to play good baseball, solid baseball,” Knight said. “Early in the year, [it] seemed like everything was a struggle. They’ve [begun] to score runs, get better pitching. Hey, they got a chance to maybe do some damage. You get in the playoffs, you never know what’s going to happen.”