The Juan Soto contract news leak was supposed to put pressure on the young slugger. Soto seems to know a thing or two about playing the media pressure game.
“I’ve been with the Nationals since Day 1. Why should I want to change?” Soto told reporters on Monday at a Dodger Stadium All-Star Game presser, hours before he went out and won the Home Run Derby.
“I’ve been here my whole career. I just feel great where I’m at,” Soto said. “Whatever decision they make, I’ll get comfortable in a couple days. But I don’t control any of that. I’m just here to play baseball and play as hard as I can.”
Ball’s back in your court, Mike Rizzo, Mark Lerner.
The leak that Soto had turned down a $440 million contract offer was supposed to make Soto look bad for turning down the most guaranteed money in MLB history.
The leak included news that the Nats were preparing to take a look at the market for a trade for the 23-year-old, as if there would be any way a team could get anything close in value to this generation’s Ted Williams from a package of some other team’s prospects.
Now Soto has made it clear that he would prefer to be in Washington.
Just maybe not with the people who leaked details of the contract negotiations.
“It feels really uncomfortable,” Soto said. “You don’t know what to trust. But at the end of the day, it’s out of my hands in what decision they make.”
Reporters kept giving him rope in the 45-minute back and forth.
How do you feel with this report coming right as you were getting ready to make your second All-Star Game appearance?
“I try to keep my stuff private and not try to throw stuff out there. It feels really bad. But at the end of the day, we just have to keep playing. It doesn’t matter what’s happening,” Soto said.
Have the trade talks made your job harder?
“Here and there, you know. But you can’t blame that on your stats or anything you can do on the field,” Soto said. “At the end of the day, I just try to forget about everything outside for three hours, and try to be the 12-year-old that I’ve been and play baseball as hard as I can and try to enjoy it as much as I can.”
How does it feel to be on the trade block?
“A couple weeks ago, they said they would never trade me. And then all these things came out. It feels really uncomfortable. You don’t know what to trust. But at the end of the day, it’s out of my hands,” Soto said.
That’s how you play the game, folks.
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Chris Graham
