Inside The Mets

Why Insider Believes Juan Soto Lands With New York Mets

ESPN insider Buster Olney made a compelling case for why he believes Juan Soto will play for the New York Mets next season.

Grant Young

Oct 10, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto (22) celebrates a win over the Kansas City Royals during game four of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Oct 10, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto (22) celebrates a win over the Kansas City Royals during game four of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
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While the New York Mets' minds are currently occupied by their NLCS series against the Los Angeles Dodgers that starts on Sunday, their expected pursuit of Yankees superstar and impending free agent Juan Soto will begin as soon as their 2024 season ends.

The Mets and Yankees are rumored to be the two teams who are most likely to sign Soto to a long-term deal this offseason.

However, ESPN baseball insider Buster Olney believes that he knows where in New York Soto will be playing next season — and has a compelling reason as to why.

"I think he's going to wind up with the Mets either way," Olney said of Soto on a recent episode of the 'Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney' podcast after fellow insider Kiley Mcdaniel said he thinks Soto will sign with the Yankees if they win the World Series and the Mets if they don't.

"I think the fact that the Mets are having this phenomenal season, the way that it's playing out, is going to increase the likelihood that he's going to land there," Olney continued. "Because there's going to be an enthusiasm with Steve Cohen.

"If they hadn't made the playoffs, let's say they're eliminated by mid-September, then I think they would be more tethered to the process, so to speak... I think if they end up reaching the World Series or winning the World Series... owners get excited. Owners get fired up. And to built off of what they did this year going into next year, there's no way that you can do more to feed that than signing Juan Soto," Olney added.

That take from Olney must be music to the ears of Mets fans.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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