Suite-gate: Weird disagreement prevented Juan Soto from re-signing with the Yankees

Juan Soto is a New York Met and likely will be for the remainder of his career. The slugger signed a record-breaking 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets, switching boroughs after playing a year in the Bronx with the New York Yankees.

The Yankees weren't far off from the Mets' offer, reportedly offering Soto a 16-year, $760 million contract. The problem was, apparently, over a luxury suite. According to the New York Post's Jon Heyman, Soto was offered a luxury suite and four premium seats at Citi Field for free. At Yankee Stadium, however, Soto would have to pay for a suite just like Aaron Judge and Derek Jeter do. The Yankees weren't willing to budge on the precedent they had set with franchise legends.

Per @JonHeyman (https://t.co/JSujYVcHY2), the Yankees "wouldn't budge" on giving Juan Soto a suite at Yankee Stadium, feeling that it couldn't be done when Aaron Judge & Derek Jeter paid for their suites.

Steve Cohen included a Citi Field suite for Soto's family in his Mets deal pic.twitter.com/9S8YlEO5df
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) December 10, 2024

When asked about 'Suite-gate' on Wednesday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman defended his decision.

"Some high-end players that make a lot of money for us, if they want suites, they buy them," Cashman told Max Goodman of NJ.com. "If they ever want to be upstairs, they have a choice to be down or up and protected and enjoy it. We have a great family room set up with babysitting. It’s a great, safe setup to take care of families and stuff like that. But obviously, when we have a roster with a lot of great players and high-end players, we’ve gone through a process on previous negotiations where this might have happened, and this is what we did. We’re gonna honor those. So, no regrets there."

A suite seems very trivial to include in a contract, especially one worth more than $750 million. It's likely the suite wasn't the deciding factor for Soto -- the fact that the Mets contract can be worth $805 million probably did it -- but maybe Soto saw the Yankees refusal to put a suite in the contract as not being as committed to him as the Mets.

Cashman isn't losing sleep over it. He said he has no regrets about the negotiations with Soto. The Yankees have had a successful pivot, signing left-handed starter Max Fried and being involved in trade talks for Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker. New York just made the World Series for the first time since 2009 and their actions this offseason, despite missing out on Soto, prove they want to go back.