Early Juan Soto free agency buzz is good for Yankees, but annoying team won't go away

There are few ways Juan Soto's New York Yankees tenure could've gotten off to a better start, which has set the relationship on a positive path. Soto, as everybody knows, will be a free agent after 2024 so the Yankees will "only have him for a year," as everyone's so generously reminded us.

Yeah, shouldn't have traded for him, not worth having the best hitter in baseball for a year. Idiots! How could we?!

Well, the idea was that Soto would have an impressionable year in the Bronx and then the most valuable franchise in the league would simply ... re-sign him. Crazy concept, we know, but it appears the gamble is beginning to pay off.

Some have looked to invalidate the Yankees' leap of faith (while ignoring the fact that just about any other team would be praised for this), but pretending to live in another universe unfortunately isn't always the most effective strategy.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, he'd bet that Soto is a New Yorker "for good" based on the early returns. And the MLB insider does believe the Yankees are the most likely suitor ... but the buzz surrounding Soto just can't seem to shake off the Mets.

Early Juan Soto free agency buzz is good for Yankees, but Mets won't go away

Somehow, this was a louder conversation during spring training than anybody would've imagined. We're fast-forwarding to November in ... March? Just skipping a year of life? Anything to cope, we suppose.

But for all the Mets fanatics out there already convincing themselves that this will be their 2025 reality, you're in luck. Heyman says Soto's "most logical landing spot" besides the Yankees is the Mets. How would we interpret that? The Mets are still second place.

Steve Cohen has yet to use his financial powers to blow the rest of the league out of the water. His contracts for Francisco Lindor, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander weren't exactly revolutionary. In fact, the Dodgers have beaten him to the punch multiple times. So until we see him offer something truly jaw-dropping, he cannot be viewed as a legitimate threat. Right now, he's Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.

Yankees fans will have to live with this conversation as part of their reality for the next seven months, but they should take solace knowing they're absolutely in the lead for Soto, assuming the season continues to trend in a positive direction.

Then, come November, Mets fans can move onto something else equally delusional. And hopefully the Yankees aren't involved in any capacity.