Yankees, Mets and Juan Soto: Here's the pitch!

With Juan Soto being described this past week as a “Mona Lisa” by his agent, Scott Boras, it was expected that the negotiations for him would be done at the ownership level, by the super-rich guys who actually hang museum-caliber artwork in their living rooms.

Shortly after Boras suggested that a parade of owners soon would  be visiting his Southern California compound, the Yankees’ Hal Steinbrenner and the Mets’ Steve Cohen were among the first to line up, scheduled in the coming week to 10 days, according to the New York Post.

Soto and Boras have made it abundantly clear that the driving force of his free agency is cash. He turned down the Nationals’ $440 million offer two years ago to break the bank this time around. But Soto wants everything else as well. And because only the best teams can afford him, might as well make a winning a priority, too.

What else is there? Use your imagination. In 2000, the Mets famously turned down Alex Rodriguez, another Boras client, when the opening pitch included billboards, his own merchandise tent and a Shea Stadium office, prompting then-general manager Steve Phillips to say he didn’t want a “24-plus-one-man roster.”

Currently, the Dodgers have that to some degree with Shohei Ohtani, a unicorn talent and soon-to-be three-time MVP. He’s followed around by his own army of Japanese media and is the face of companies selling everything from cosmetics to watches to sneakers. Thanks to this multitude of lucrative endorsements, however, Ohtani chose to structure his record 10-year, $700 million contract in a way to create significant luxury-tax room for the Dodgers, allowing them to spend for better rosters. Over the life of the deal, Ohtani is taking only $2 million per season, deferring the rest.

With Soto now gunning for Ohtani’s record, I asked Boras if they’d also be willing to take sizable deferrals to help his next team, which almost certainly will be bumping up against the 2025 tax ceiling, which rises to $301 million from last year’s $297 million. His response was vague.

“I don’t think that tax considerations are the focal point when you’re talking about a business opportunity where you can make literally billions of dollars by acquiring somebody like this,” Boras said.

Even so, the subject is bound to come up in these discussions, and probably more with the Yankees, given where they’re at payroll-wise for 2025 (along with Steinbrenner’s June comments about $300M being unsustainable going forward). With the Yankees and Mets readying their sales pitches, here’s a quick glance at what Soto  and Boras will be hearing.

YANKEES: Take money out of the equation, and Steinbrenner’s team should have an obvious edge on the rest of the suitors. Soto just spent the past eight months in pinstripes, had one of his best offensive seasons (. 989 OPS, career-high 41 homers)  while being protected in the order by Aaron Judge,  and went to the World Series. From the outside, Soto appeared to fit in well with the Yankees, though one of his closer friends on the team, free agent Gleyber Torres,  almost certainly is a goner.

The Yankees also have a solid talent nucleus, with Judge and Giancarlo Stanton anchoring the lineup and Gerrit Cole — another big Boras client — at the top of a rotation that already is mostly complete. They also just brought back player-friendly manager Aaron Boone on his one-year 2025 option. Other than the Orioles, the rest of the AL East is still figuring itself out, and if the Yankees get Soto back, along with some other smart  acquisitions, they’ll again be the division favorite and should challenge for another deep October run.

“I think that playing in New York for Juan was really, really comfortable,” Boras said. “He really enjoyed his teammates, the Yankee experience. Juan loves winning.”

As for the cash, Steinbrenner should be good for it — up to a point. The Yankees have roughly $80 million coming off the books this winter, with FanGraphs projecting their current 2025 payroll estimate (for tax purposes) at $246 million. That gives them only $55 million of space before surging past the highest threshold again (dubbed the Cohen tax), so figure Soto’s salary would eat up most of that — with the Yankees still needing a first baseman, someone to play second or third and premier bullpen help (the need for an outfielder depends on Soto’s decision). General manager Brian Cashman will need to get creative to squeeze all that under $301 million, perhaps leaning on some in-house options, but they should be able to satisfy Soto’s requirements — unless the other team in town pushes the bidding to the stratosphere.

“We’ll put our best foot forward,”  Cashman said before adding, “I’ll stay in touch with our owner, who’s intimately involved every step of the way.”

METS: At these moments, there’s no substitute for having baseball’s richest individual owner, and Cohen’s $21 billion fortune can make dropping $700 million on Soto feel a lot easier than it does for just about every other team (aside from maybe the Dodgers). It also affords Cohen the ability to control the bidding process, boldly going places the rest choose not to.

But we don’t know how high Cohen is willing to go, just speculating that he won’t be outbid. And if Soto is trying to decide between the Mets and Yankees, does Cohen need to beat Steinbrenner by a wide margin — say $50 million or so — to get him to Flushing?

Whatever the case, the gap shouldn’t be nearly as wide as it was before the start of the season. Maybe it no longer exists at all, based on the fact that the Mets looked like the most fun team in the majors from September through October.

The Mets’ 2024 rebound and subsequent playoff joyride changed how the franchise was viewed throughout baseball. The top half of their lineup is well-suited to deploy around Soto: perennial MVP Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and young slugger Mark Vientos, with Francisco Alvarez close behind. But the Mets lost half of their roster to free agency this offseason, which means David Stearns has to rebuild the rotation (again) and retool the bullpen.

That’s where Cohen’s money comes in (again). Losing all those free agents trimmed close to $180 million from last year’s payroll (MLB’s highest), and FanGraphs projects their current 2025 estimate to be at $172 million (for tax purposes). That’s low in Cohen’s Metsville, and it  suggests he’ll have plenty to pay Soto as well as buy anything else they’ll need to contend next season. Cohen  likely will have that shopping list ready for his Soto sitdown.

The Mets also have a well-respected manager in Carlos Mendoza, but the NL East is not for the squeamish. For the Mets to get back to October, it’s going to be another dogfight, with the Phillies sure to improve, a stronger Atlanta back and the rising Nationals also part of the picture. Cohen, however, shouldn’t have to do much convincing that he’ll field a serious contender.

“Steve’s investment in our team is clear,” Stearns said. “His desire to win is clear. And he’s been able to forge some really good relationships with players over the early part of his ownership tenure here. I think that’s a huge benefit for our club.”

We’ll soon see how Cohen’s approach works with Soto. Same goes for Steinbrenner.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.