New York Yankees fans weren’t entirely pessimistic about the club’s chances of re-signing superstar outfield Juan Soto entering the offseason. After all, they’d just gone to the World Series, Soto was a star in the postseason, and the friendly right field would certainly help the left-handed slugger age quite nicely. There were, frankly, a lot of things working in the Yankees’ favor.

However, the biggest fear among Yankees fans — as well as one of the biggest notes from other hopeful fan bases in the mix for Soto — resided in the team’s future. Aaron Judge will turn 33 years old this season, Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton are also in their mid-30s, and the Yankees farm system is a bit barren (confirmed with the No. 24 ranking in baseball by MLB Pipeline in the preseason). To put it mildly, the future is a bit murky in the Bronx.

Of course, Soto eventually signed with the crosstown New York Mets and he’s made it clear there were plenty of factors that helped with that. Steve Cohen’s checkbook was one of them, but so too was the way the organization treated him and his family.

However, Soto recently confirmed that the biggest fear of Yankees’ fans was also part of the equation.

Juan Soto left because of the Yankees questionable future, just like every fan feared

In an interview with Sports Illustrated for the April print edition, Soto said the Yankees were atop the list but the Mets swayed him eventually. More importantly, he noted that, while signing a 15-year contract, “the Yankees are going to be good for the next five, six years. We don’t know after that.”

Juan Soto in Sports Illustrated:

“The Yankees were No. 1 from Day One,” but he eventually chose the Mets bc of Steve, the emphasis on family, and trust in long-term success. He said“I know the Yankees are going to be good for the next five, six years. We don’t know after that.”

https://twitter.com/kiaradidwhat/status/1903163961941344319?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

That’s a brutal thing to hear if you’re a Yankees fan. Yes, it’s something that you were always worried would be a factor in Soto’s decision but, at the same time, to hear it from him put so plainly that it may have helped push him to the Mets, an organization with a more defined future and just as many resources with Cohen at the helm, is a punch to the gut.

At the same time, it’s hard to blame Soto for that thought process. Again, he was signing a 15-year contract or something in that range. He’s in his mid-20s and thinking about where he wants to play baseball for ostensibly the rest of his career, which he certainly wants to contain more World Series titles, appearances and accolades. If the future of an organization is unclear, that becomes less bankable, which clearly hurt the Yankees and benefitted the Mets here.

For the Yankees’ part, they did an admirable job pivoting after losing Soto, landing Cody Bellinger from the Cubs via trade, signing Max Fried to a lucrative deal (to beat out the rival Red Sox, no less) and trading for star closer Devin Williams. Of course, those moves looked better when Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton didn’t have serious injury issues.

However, this might be a lesson that the Yankees and other big market teams should take to heart. It’s one thing to have deep pockets and aggression to win year after year. When it comes to the true young stars that can be franchise-changers like Soto, though, having the long-term plan in place can matter just as much. Unfortunately, the Yankees might’ve had to learn that the hard way in this instance.