DALLAS — Brian Cashman reiterated he has zero regrets from the Yankees’ failed Juan Soto chase — including potential small missteps that he does not characterize as missteps.
As The Post’s Jon Heyman first reported, the Yankees declined to offer Soto the cherry on top that would have been an on-the-house family suite at the Stadium — a Citi Field perk the Mets offered with their winning bid.
Additionally, Soto was said to be upset from an incident early last season in which an overzealous Yankees security guard blocked a family member of Soto’s and his chef/driver from certain areas of the ballpark.
Cashman does not believe either potential contributing factor was a contributing factor for Soto, who chose the Mets’ pact ($765 million over 15 years) over the Yankees’ ($760 million over 16 years).
“However it gets played out [in media], whether it’s like, ‘The suite was the issue’ or whatever. It’s like: Was it really?” Cashman said Wednesday at the winter meetings.
The Yankees did not offer Soto a personal suite because it is against their organizational policy. Stars such as Aaron Judge and Derek Jeter have paid for their own.
The Yankees provide a suite for the family members, as well as seats outside. They also have a family room that provides babysitting services.
“Some high-end players that make a lot of money for us, if they want suites, they buy them for their family or Legends seats or whatever,” Cashman said. “Whether it’s CC [Sabathia], whether it’s Judge, whether it’s [Gerrit] Cole, whether it’s any of these guys.”
The personal suite has come up in past negotiations with various players, and the Yankees have cited their consistent position.
“This is what we did, and we’re going to honor those [policies],” Cashman said. “So, no regrets.”
Cashman did not defend the pushy security guard but claimed ignorance of the matter. He said he heard nothing about the incident or Soto’s anger over it until after the sweepstakes had concluded.
“I’m not saying it couldn’t happen,” Cashman said. “But if it was such a big deal, I would have heard from [agent] Scott Boras.”
It is possible the Mets heard about the incident. When Steve Cohen was wooing Soto, he brought a small group into the room with Soto that included the club’s traveling secretary, Edgar Suero, who explained how the team takes care of players’ families.
And Cohen thought little of adding a suite on top of his offer.
Maybe such seemingly trivial matters prompted Soto to trade boroughs.
It is also possible that the Mets, who offered more total money, more money per season and more in their signing bonus, simply offered more.
Cashman alluded to that possibility in telling a story about his successful recruitment of Sabathia after the 2008 season.
“I flew in to his home to close the deal out,” Cashman said, “and a lot was made [in media] of me closing that out and flying into the home, and it was like John Calipari going into the home and closing a recruit. A lot of stories were generated from that.
“But the truth of the matter is: I hit him over the head with a big bunch of cash.”
