I'm sure I am not alone but, I have some Mets friends and there tune sure has changed a lot since December. So, after taking it gracefully for months, I decided to have a little fun this week. I found the Juan Soto milk carton several times in my feed on X and I had to have some fun with it. Soto is missing....and Mets fans are hating it.
Meanwhile, yes I am loving it. I will admit that I loved watching Soto look so lost in the Subway Series. I know realistically he won't stay in this slump all season but seriously....what a change from Soto in pinstripes to Soto in that other ugly New York uniform. What's missing?
I think David Cone said it best HERE. I've always been a big Coney fan, so when he talks, I listen. I think he hit the nail on the head here. Not for nothing, he knows what it is like to play for both teams so I really don't think anyone can relate to Soto the way he can.
"It just reminds me of what my ex-manager Joe Torre used to talk about a lot. And he was around it sort of at the end of his career, when analytics started to come into the game and make a big play and all the information in the big data era. He still wanted to talk about the heartbeat," Cone said. "He still managed the heartbeat of the player. And that’s what’s going on with Juan Soto. It’s the heartbeat. It's emotional. There’s no question about it. That's what leads to the confidence in the batter's box. That leads to the lack of the Soto shuffle. That's just feeling it, and that's clearly emotional. That's the human element that's going on with him. And I don't know how you work through that. That's something he's going to have to figure out himself. He's got a good support group around him that is going to give him everything he needs. But bottom line is, Juan Soto's got to feel it emotionally. And until he does, we're not going to see the same old swagger that we're used to seeing from him."
I think he's on to something there and I say that because when I was watching the series, I disagreed with some of what Michael Kay said. When Soto was at the plate being booed, he was smirking. Kay said he wasn't fazed by it, or letting it get to him....and I disagree. Plenty of players have been booed in Yankee stadium, but I feel like many of them did a much better job at just tuning it out as best as they could and just focusing on the at bat. His body language said the opposite and honestly it fueled my reaction to him watching at home. I became MORE vocal with every smirk he gave. He was letting all of the noise around him consume him....so I don't agree with Michael Kay at all. It's like we were watching a completely different series.
I think Soto is dealing with some feelings. I think he didn't want to be in the shadow of Aaron Judge. I think he thrived with Judge's support and protection and now he doesn't have that in Queens and he isn't dealing with it. Now he is the guy that needs to live up to his ridiculous salary and he hasn't figured out how to do it. He's choking, and he's lost the spark that he once had. He's a shadow of himself and until he deals with that his swag is all but gone. He's all money, no results.
So yeah, Soto belongs on the milk carton. He chose to leave the Bronx for the money so now he needs to MAN UP and deal with it. Or don't and let the rest of the baseball world watch him spiral out of control and flush Steve Cohen's money down the drain.
#SORRYNOTSORRY
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