Opposition research: Juan Soto

Checking in on the Mets’ expensive new star

As you may have heard, the New York Mets signed outfielder Juan Soto as a free agent this past winter, and the former National, Padre, and Yankee is now the highest paid player in baseball. How is that working out for everyone?

The Mets are off to a strong start, sitting at 15-7, good for first place in the National League East. As for Soto, he’s been good, but not great. An .821 OPS is a nice showing for most players, but when you’re the most expensive player ever, playing in the country’s biggest – and generally least forgiving – media market, expectations are a bit higher than “nice.”

New York media loves their shiny new toys, so they’ve been covering Soto with gusto. First there were concerns that he’s overweight:

Early on, Soto went into a slump, and Mets fans decided they needed to give him the standing ovation treatment: (Get your own gimmick, people!)

And for some reason, there have been attempts to manifest him being a bad teammate into reality:

That’s like two years’ worth of storylines in less than a month. Even the O.C. had better pacing! I know New York has no chill, but they’re going to burn themselves out at this pace. However, if this constant over scrutinization begins to wear on Soto, and it negatively affects his performance, I’m all for it!

X-Men character of the series

Emma Frost

Much like Juan Soto, Emma Frost is rich, has a history of changing teams, and despite usually coming through in big spots, there’s still a lot of scrutiny as to how good of a teammate she is. (On the other hand, unlike Soto, Emma appears to be in great shape.)

Additional thought about the series

This weekend didn’t do much to alleviate concerns with the bullpen. It wasn’t a good showing, but I will say that bullpen struggles aren’t all the same, and just because the team’s relief ERA is high, it doesn’t mean the entire situation is a disaster.

Think about how the 2020 bullpen was simply unable to protect any lead, but losses like Sunday’s in which a key setup reliever blows a late lead haven’t happened all that often so far.

It would be great if guys like Jordan Romano and Joe Ross can figure things out quickly. But it is still early, and things can change in a hurry. And as a friendly reminder: