Will Mets steal Aaron Judge from Yankees? Never say never

Edwin Diaz signed a five-year, $102 million contract with the Mets. Steve Cohen is trying to sell Jacob deGrom and Aaron Judge to the team he owns. The deal is worth more than the previous record of $86 million for Aroldis Chapman. The Dodgers are interested in signing Judge. It's unlikely that the Yankees will let him go. They don't want to start a war with Hal Steinbrenner. Two non-New York execs say Cohen wants to keep both players.

Cohen made the market for Max Scherzer disappear. He offered Scherzers $43 million a year. Out-of-market exec warns that if Cohen wants Aaron Judge, the Yankees are in trouble.

Cohen owns the largest portfolio of baseball's richest people. He bought the Mets with the aim of re-making them in their 1986 image. The Giants are interested in signing a player, but they are dwarfed by Cohen's resources. If the Yankees don't sign deGrom first, the chances of Judge being pursued increase. The Yankees won more games than the New York Mets in the regular season, they also won the East, while the team that Cohen bought failed to win the Wild Card Series.

Yankees are confident about their chances of signing Aaron Judge. He is loyal to his agent Page Odle. The Yankees know he is close to Aaron Boone. He married his high school sweetheart Samantha Bracksieck last winter. If he doesn't sign, he might be offered a name-your-price invitation from Cohen.