When that batter is Juan Soto, it reveals a hell of a year.
With 12 games to go, Soto has achieved career highs in HRs and Runs, and he will probably do the same in RBIs and Hits. (No easy feat, because he had great years in Washington and San Diego.) He's lived up to the hype. If his season ended today, it would still be one of his best.
Since April day, the priapismic Gotham media has peppered Soto over where he will play next year, a backhanded way to foster controversy and harvest clicks. You don't see stars in small markets receive such nonstop hectoring (though, honestly, that might be because, when a star like Soto comes along, it's a done deal that he'll leave when the contract ends.)
The Yankees have two weeks left - including six games against Oakland and Pittsburgh, teams that are playing out a walking dead schedule. Nobody ever phones it in against the big bad Yankees. But Soto has a golden opportunity to pad his resume.
Then comes the grand stage that Soto has chased since 2019, when at age 20 he led Washington to its only World Series. He must hit in October. He must cement his reputation as a clutch performer. He's had the big regular season. Now comes the real test, and it's time for the world to stop jabbering about what cap he will someday wear into the Hall of Fame.
October looms. Wherever Soto goes, and whatever he gets paid, 2024 will be the defining season of his life, the springboard to his future. And fasten your seat belt. The Juan Soto story is about to unfold.
It's true that it doesn't matter where he plays next year, just that he hits in October. The thing I semi-worry about is him playing defense in October. He can be amazingly bad in the field--amazingly, because you look at everything else he can do and it's bizarre that he can't play at least an average right field.
ReplyDeleteWhile I usually can do without Paul O'Neill's commentary during games, he did say something that stuck in my head recently. He noted that the only way a player can get better is through work, work, work. Taking fly balls for hours, putting in the effort. It made me wonder: does Soto do that? Does he put in the work to be a better fielder? I don't know, and it's never mentioned in the press (or anywhere else). With his abilities, it's hard to believe he couldn't be a lot better than he is.
“It’s all in front of him” - unnamed baseball savant.
ReplyDeleteUmmm, yeah, you know....uhhh...we, ah...ummm...
ReplyDeleteYOU SOUND RELAXED, JM!!!
DeleteYeah, well, you know, we...uhhh...looking at that, we...ooh...you know, some great swings.
DeleteYeah, maybe. Certainly, if Soto goes crazy in October, it will create much more pressure to keep him.
ReplyDeleteBut I think it's entirely possible that Hal & Pal are now so remote from the fans, so enamored of their own "genius" and their own plans, that even if Juan Soto wins the World Series with a grand slam home run in the ninth off Shohei Ohtani, it is entirely possible they would let him go to the Mets, saying, "Hey, our payroll is just not sustainable—and you now have The Martian!"
I don't trust these guys at all—not when it comes to their baseball judgement, not when it comes to a dollar. And I have long given up on their ability to consistently get to the Series. All I want is to see an outfield of the potential greatness of Judge-Soto-Dominguez for a few seasons.
If they're not capable of that—if they are really just going to let this guy go to the Mets—I will have a very hard time paying attention to them anymore.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Except maybe for Hal and Hollow Eye.
DeleteSaquon Barkley has left the Giants but can still find a way to lose.
ReplyDeleteIn his time with the G’s, he led the league in most dropped passes by a RB.
DeleteHorace, you say that now. But, when the inevitable happens and Soto becomes a Met ( 10 years @ 50 M per and Hal went 8 years @ 45 M knowing he would refuse) the line will be " We offered him a very fair and lucrative offer that we were comfortable with." Like the rest of us, you'll be back again right here and on WFAN/YES. Like Charlie Brown always allows Lucy to hold the football while he kicks.
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