Inside The Pinstripes

Analyst Calls Yankees Loss of Juan Soto 'A Blessing in Disguise'

Longtime MLB player Mark DeRosa doesn't think the New York Yankees should lament losing Juan Soto.

Grant Young

Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto poses for photos during his introductory press conference at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Dec 12, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto poses for photos during his introductory press conference at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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The biggest story of the MLB offseason (let alone for the New York Yankees) is 26-year-old superstar Juan Soto signing a 15-year, $765 million contract to join the New York Mets (which is the largest contract in sports history) on December 8.

In doing so, Soto turned down the Yankees' final offer to him, which was $760 million for 16 years.

This decision obviously irked the Yankees' fanbase, as many believe New York would not have made it to the World Series in 2024 if not for Soto (and they'd have a valid argument).

However, while Soto's impact is undeniable, some within the baseball community believe the Yankees will ultimately be better off without him. One of these people is MLB Network analyst (and longtime MLB veteran) Mark DeRosa.

A December 15 X post from MLB Network quoted DeRosa saying of Soto, "I think it's a blessing in disguise that he's wearing a Mets uniform."

There are two logical reasons why DeRosa's sentiment may prove true. One is that paying a single player $760 million is an enormous investment, which will likely only prove to be money well-spent if Soto can stay healthy and remain a perennial MVP contender for at least the next decade — which is a lot to ask of any player.

Not to mention that the Yankees can now use that money they'd allocated for Soto to sign multiple other players, which they've already done by signing former Atlanta Braves ace Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal.

Even after that deal (which made Fried the highest-paid left-handed pitcher in MLB history), the Yankees are still expected to sign other players via free agency this offseason, which they likely would not have been able to do if they'd secured Soto.

It will be a long time before anyone can say for certain whether Soto leaving the Yankees truly was a "blessing in disguise". But DeRosa does make a fair point.

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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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