Yankees' Juan Soto backup plan earns top grades during Subway Series finale vs. Mets

The Yankees offered hundreds of millions of dollars to free agent Juan Soto. He turned them down and went to the New York Mets instead.

They didn't rest on their laurels in the Bronx or take any time to lick their wounds. Instead, they almost immediately went out and signed three big-time free agents.

On Sunday night, those guys from the Soto "backup plan" stole the show in a dominant Sunday Night Baseball win over the Mets.

Lefty starting pitcher Max Fried got the biggest contract, $215 million, and has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in the early going.

On Sunday, Fried went six innings, allowing two runs and striking out eight. His solid outing actually raised his season ERA, all the way up to 1.29.

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The Yankees also added Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger.

Sunday night, Goldschmidt batted leadoff and had a hit, an RBI, a walk, a steal and two runs scored. He's batting .339.

Bellinger iced the win with a grand slam. Overall, he went 3-for-3 with six RBI to raise his season average to .258 and OPS to .789 amid a double-digit hitting streak.

Meanwhile, Soto went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, including one knee-buckling strike three take against Fried's curveball. Soto is batting .246 with an .822 OPS.

Soto will still be one of the best hitters in baseball for the next decade-plus, but the Yankees proved there are multiple ways to win. They got three good players for the price of a lot less than Soto, and that trio is a huge part of the Yanks' early-season success without Soto.

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