Like Carlos Beltran and Francisco Lindor before him, Juan Soto got off to a rocky start as a New York Met. The first couple of months were rough as he was hitting .221 on April 17 and after a brief hot streak was back down to .228 on May 28, all while still getting on base with his usual high volume of walks. But that’s not what he was getting paid $765 million to do and the fans let him know it.
Since then, though, he has raised his average up to .263 and, after a couple of multi-homer games, Soto has 21 home runs, on pace to hit 38 for the season. While climbing, his average, OBP, and HR are just a bit below what his career numbers are, but after the slow start, and with a surge here and there, he can certainly match and even surpass expectations.
Expectations…that’s what it’s all about. You expect someone getting paid so much money to be among the elite in the league. But that’s not always the case. There have been plenty of times throughout history that one of the all-time greats was on the outside looking in, and was left out of the mid-season classic.
Derek Jeter…one of the most consistent stars – day in and day out, year after year – failed to be named an all star four times over the course of his illustrious career. The same could be said for his teammate Mariano Rivera, who failed to make it to the game five times. I know, I chose two Yankees as examples, but these are two players who were not only good, but great, year in and year out and were hands down Hall of Famers. And they weren’t “All Stars” every year. So why DOES it matter?
The point is that Soto got off to a bad start. The “game” has become not a game of superstars and elite players – look back at the rosters for the 1971 classic – but a popularity contest. There were seasons, especially near the end of their careers, when Willie Mays and Henry Aaron were no longer producing the numbers that they had in their primes. Yet, they were at the All Star Game. Why? Because that’s who the fans were paying to see. They were MLB royalty. Today, there are names that you might not recognize.
Soto making the NL All Star team doesn’t benefit us, it doesn’t benefit the Mets. In fact, the ONLY person who benefits, is Juan Soto himself because his $765 million contract gives him an additional $100,000 bonus for being named to the NL All Star squad.
$765 million dollars isn’t enough to be a “star.” Let’s throw in another $100,000 for incentive to BE a “star.” Must be nice!
