lol Max, burning the house down behind him as he walks out the door 
I've been arguing, electronically, with a pair of Met fans who insisted that the Mets would fight for the playoffs this year as I said that it looked like the sort of painful rebuild that the Nats have undertaken. Was told that I was "traumatized" by losing Max, Trea, and Soto (and that Pete Alonso is better than Soto, anyway). When I noted that the Mets were stuck with berserk salaries that Cohen gave to Max and Verlander, I "learned" that Steve Cohen would ignore the luxury tax and could eat as much salary as the Mets needed. Besides, they "taught" me, Cohen will just sign more big free agents to compete again and until their prospects arrive.
As I looked at the contracts, it's clear that the Mets did with Lindor the opposite of what Rizzo did with Trea. They pay the full market-price for Lindor (and then some) for a long, long deal. Lindor is signed until he is 37 or 38. Same with Nimmo, although Nimmo will not make as much as Lindor. And then there is Alonso, who has not quite hit free agency. I think Alonso becomes a free agent before 2025.
Why the kinder feelings for the Yankees than for the Mets? It's something about Met fans, a story I'll tell some other time.
