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“JUAN SOTO-MR MONEYBAGS”
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The Mets got what they wanted.
The agent Scott Boras got what he wanted.
The player Juan Soto got it all too, 15-years.. 765M total…51M-year.

The Yankees lost a big. bat.
MLB’s spread between the haves and the have nots-has widened.

The agent calls him a ‘centurion’..someone you may never see again.
The Mets call him a likely savior.
The Yankees view him as a traitor.

It’s the business of baseball right now.
Baseball free agency has become ‘show me all of your money’.
But it’s not just here, it’s the NFL, the NBA, the NHL.
Hell it’s even in college athletics too, under the banner of the NIL.

So what are the Mets getting?  A big time bat with big time power.
A career (.285) hitter with 205-home runs at age 26.
But they are also getting a defensively deficient outfielder.
A heavy-lumbering base runner.
A less than cannon of an arm too for a corner outfielder.

Compare the intangibles if you will.  Compare Soto’s style and personality.
Look at the heroics of Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers.
Watch the fire in the belly and the camaraderie of Mookie Betts’ clubhouse.
See the professionalism of Clayton Kershaw.

Soto is one dimension.  A bat, alot of power, an aggressive person at the plate.
Soto is self-centered.  Not much of a team player.
Not much of a leader in the clubhouse.

Compare this slugger with the other modern day phenom, Shohei Ohtani.
Compare the personalities, no comparison.
Compare the overall focus-not the same.
Compare the dimensions, bat vs a DH and soon to be a pitcher again.

And look at baseball history.  Can you say Soto is equal to the legends of the game, like Hank Aaron, Willy Mays, Mickey Mantle?

He’s more Reggie Jackson in terms of slugging style and demeanor.  Not to say that is bad, but it means he is not a complete player.

I dealt with Soto in that Padres clubhouse during the 2-lost seasons, and I found him to be aloof, boring, betting on himself and not paying much attention to anything-everything around him on his team.

Some good baseball, some crummy baseball too.  Not much accountability.  Tomorrow is another day, all the while he was hitting (.226) for half a season.  Granted the second year was better, but it was as if he was in a payroll drive, even if the team was not in a pennant race.

All his comments made me believe I was listening to super agent Scott Boras, not a team leading slugger named Soto.

The Mets are excited.  The Yankees are peeved.  The fans are going crazy, loving it or hating it.  The NY tabloids are all over it, hero, villain and more.

The money is absurd, but that is what is being paid everywhere in sports.  You just really wonder if the Mets really know the depths of the player they just gave all this money to.

Maybe it does not matter to owner Steve Cohen, whose bank account is worth 22B.  Maybe luxury tax payments don’t phase him.  Maybe he doesn’t care about team chemistry and clubhouses.

Juan Soto left a World Series team for a payday with a team that has alot of holes alot of places on the roster.  He had turned down a record (440M) offer in Washington, that led to a trade, that led to the collapse of the Nationals franchise, that plunged it into rebuilding-which takes forever.

Sure he is happy and will make alot of corporate comments about glad to stay in New York.  Don’t know that he is bothered by media pressure either in a big market.  Will be interested to see how he handles it, if he has an off season, or the team he chose, turns out to not be very good.

Juan Soto has closed the book on his free agency.  Interesting to see what the rest of his big money career looks like.  And what kind of person he becomes after the person-player we saw in San Diego.  Next chapter coming up.

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