Yankees beat writer responds to nasty Juan Soto celebration rumor

You heard the leaks from Juan Soto's camp; as far as their narrative would have you believe, the Yankees' security guard stopping Soto's father from delivering food to the dugout (against the rules, for what it's worth) was the main reason for his defection.

Luckily, before the Yankees' counter-leaks could spread like wildfire, beat writer Chris Kirschner stepped in to refute the mudslinging.

According to a Bob Klapisch column that dropped on Friday, Soto was absent in key moments down the stretch of the Yankees' season, even ducking their celebration after the ALCS after five minutes. That, of course, let the camera capture him popping champagne before he was gone.

Brutal. Except ... remember, Klapisch and Bill Madden were the first close-to-the-Steinbrenners sources to drop the rumor of Steve Cohen's $800 million offer and the Yankees' pivot, right before everything became official. There's a reason they were fed that information, and it's the same reason Klapisch tried to turn the fanbase against Soto again on Friday.

Only problem? Chris Kirschner, of The Athletic, was easily able to refute this assertion, which sounded ridiculous from the start.

Yankees' Juan Soto celebrated with his team after making the World Series. Come on, now. We all saw it.

Kirschner was there. He knows better than anyone. But we all saw it. Soto was in plenty of visible dance circles along the way. His father celebrated on the field in Kansas City. As the team celebrated in Cleveland, the elder Soto called his son's Yankees experience, "Spectacular. Spectacular. The Yankees are the home of baseball. It's the brand of baseball. And there isn't anything like playing for the Yankees."

The Mets intend to create a similar atmosphere, using Soto's $45-million-richer-than-the-Yankees-offer as their load-bearing foundation. And while we'll never know if his departure can be distilled down to a single reason, that financial load -- partnered with Cohen and Co. treating he and his family like kings/bigger than the program -- was likely a significant motivating factor.

Who cares who texted who? Phones work both ways. It's likely Soto asked his old teammates to respect his privacy (he did call Judge a friend and said they'd speak soon on Thursday). It's possible the Yankees simply didn't want to talk to their former teammate. Where was Soto when Aaron Judge won the MVP, both on MLB Network's live feed and on the phone in the aftermath, congratulating his partner in crime?

You can spin silence any way you want to. But money talks. Loudly.