Brian Cashman Defends Not Offering Juan Soto Free Yankee Stadium Suite: ‘No Regrets’
DALLAS – Brian Cashman remembers reading stories in 2008 that compared his ability to close the CC Sabathia deal to his beloved Kentucky Wildcats’ former coach, John Calipari, walking into the living room of a five-star recruit and landing a commitment.
The story of how the New York Yankees landed Sabathia was much simpler than a complicated story of how the club had to lure him with an extravagant presentation. Nothing convinced Sabathia to sign with the Yankees except one thing.
“The truth is, I hit him over the head with a large sum of money,” Cashman said. ‘That story isn’t written very often. It’s like, ‘Wow! It sounds like I’m Superman and I have a great presence.’ In reality we had by far the highest bid.”
Sixteen years later, the Yankees are dealing with the fallout of losing Juan Soto to the New York Mets. A report from the Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggested that the Mets’ inclusion of a free suite at Citi Field for Soto’s family “probably got them over the finish line.” The Yankees didn’t want to include a free suite in their 16-year, $760 million offer to Soto because it’s not something they’ve done before with other high-priced players. Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Rodón currently do not have access to a free suite for their family members. Sabathia, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez never had access to it either.
Soto will talk to reporters at a news conference in Queens on Thursday. No one knows why Soto ultimately chose the Mets over the Yankees — it could simply be because Steve Cohen offered $45 million more than Hal Steinbrenner — but Cashman is confident any idea that a free suite was the deciding factor can be dismissed.
Mets owner Steve Cohen not only offered more money than the Yankees for Juan Soto’s services. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
“I don’t think the suite is an asset one way or the other, especially when you’re making that much money,” Cashman said. “We offer a suite for the family members, for the women. We are probably one of the most unique organizations that automatically provides outdoor seating, but due to weather we do offer a suite. If they want to be on top, they have a choice. We have set up a great family room with a babysitter. It’s a great, safe setup to care for families.
“If we have a roster with a lot of great players and high-end players, we went through a process in previous negotiations where there were suite discussions, and that’s what we did. We are going to honor that. No regrets there.”
Heyman also reported that Soto was upset early in the season after a Yankees security guard did not allow a family member and a chef to enter a private area for players. During his meeting with Cohen, his wife Alex and the Mets’ traveling secretary, they emphasized how much of a sense of family their organization has, perhaps in an effort to capitalize on the incident involving Soto and his family at Yankee Stadium.
A team source said Soto seemed to quickly understand at the time that the guard was simply following Yankees policy and that the situation was resolved without incident.
“I didn’t hear about that stuff until after (he signed),” Cashman said. “Nothing came across my desk that a driver wasn’t allowed to drive in or that it was raining. I’ve been hearing all kinds of different things lately. I’ve never heard of that ever happening. It never occurred to us. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but if it was that big of a deal I would have heard from Scott Boras about what’s going on. I’ve never heard of any of that stuff before.’
Ultimately, Soto’s biggest reason why he chose the Mets is probably the same reason Sabathia chose the Yankees in free agency: money.
(Top photo: Luke Hales/Getty Images)
