Former Mets GM pokes a dagger through Ron Darling’s thoughts on signing Juan Soto

There’s one name at the forefront of the MLB offseason headlines: Juan Soto. Former player and broadcaster Ron Darling had a rational take on whether or not the New York Mets should be all-in on him.

To go “all-in” on any individual in sports does have its risks. Not even at a buffet does going all-in usually turn out well. Vary it up a bit. Start with the meats. Go with some sushi. Find a place to walk it off after. Save your all-in approach for picking a life partner and supporting your children.

As conservative of a thought as Darling had, not everyone agrees with it in full. One person is former Mets General Manager Zack Scott. He had a different viewpoint.

Former Mets GM Zack Scott played some devil’s advocate with Ron Darling

Scott didn’t dive deeply. He didn’t need to. He took the easiest route to poking a dagger through Darling’s thoughts.

Neither Darling nor Scott are right or wrong with their takes. Darling didn’t dismiss the thought of the Mets signing Soto. He simply stated how non-Chicken Little we should behave if he was to end up somewhere else. Scott’s take is to suggest how impactful one player truly can be. The New York Yankees hadn’t been to a World Series (or won one) since 2009. The Los Angeles Dodgers have some of the biggest contracts in the sport’s history, including the enormous Shohei Ohtani deal signed last winter.

Both wise baseball minds should agree Soto is a good match for the Mets as long as it doesn’t prevent them from adding elsewhere. It is a bit of a twist to see the broadcaster employed by the team be more dismissive of the idea with the ex-GM having a little more willingness to throw as much money as possible at the player.

Missing on top free agent targets has been a familiar result for Mets fans, even in the Steve Cohen era. But they’ve hit on plenty, too. It was three years ago when we couldn’t have imagined the team successfully signing Max Scherzer. A year later, Justin Verlander joined him upon the departure of Jacob deGrom.

The Mets have as much of a chance to sign Soto as anyone. David Stearns is smart enough to already understand the Darling and Scott argument. It’s a matter of being able to correctly make the smart smaller moves around him with a little help from the up-and-coming prospects, too.