Max Fried has been everything Yankees wanted and so much more

The consolation prize has worked out spectacularly.

The Yankees’ Plan A was to re-sign Juan Soto, moving their bid up to 16 years and $750 million before the best lefty hitter in the majors crossed the RFK Bridge to the Mets.

After a slow start, Soto has been familiarly great there. It is easy to believe he would have been even better with the Yankees due to the comfort he already had hitting in front of Aaron Judge and playing in The Bronx, plus the configuration of Yankee Stadium.

But I think it is equally easy to believe the Yankees would have been worse if Plan A worked out. Hal Steinbrenner was going to limit spending elsewhere if he had to put Soto on the ledger at those dollars. That would have meant no Max Fried; likely no Cody Bellinger. It probably would have meant Judge back in center field and Trent Grisham not receiving the kind of playing time necessary to produce what he has this season.