The baseball world has had plenty to say about Juan Soto’s decision to sign a record-breaking 15-year $765 million contract with the New York Mets. And on Wednesday, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith offered his thoughts on the matter pertaining to why Soto didn’t opt to stay with the Yankees.
Soto and the Yankees fell short in the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, a series in which Soto did everything in his power to win. In the five-game series, he hit for a .313 batting average with one home run, an RBI, and six runs scored.
The same could not be said for Aaron Judge, whose struggles throughout the World Series and, largely, the postseason were highly discussed by sports media pundits.
While several factors seemed to go into Soto’s decision, including the Mets giving him the biggest contract in terms of salary per year, Smith believes that Judge’s postseason struggles perhaps played the biggest role in Soto opting to move from the Bronx to Queens.
“Juan Soto was out there balling,” said Smith on Wednesday’s edition of First Take. “Like you said, he’s Ted Williams at the plate. Who isn’t? Aaron Judge in the playoffs. 58 home runs during the regular season. Over 100 RBIs during the regular season. But come playoff time, you have to have an APB out for him. And it’s not just this postseason; it’s been several postseasons.
“If George Steinbrenner were alive, what would George Steinbrenner be saying about Aaron Judge? He would talk about him like he talked about Dave Winfield. So, we have to consider all of that and think for a second about what role that played with Juan Soto.
“I’ve heard that Juan Soto wasn’t really feeling Aaron Judge. I don’t know the particulars. I don’t cover the team. But that’s what I heard from people in the Dominican community that I know personally. But here’s the deal. If you are Juan Soto and you are going up against the Dodgers, and you saw Mookie Betts play the way that he played along with others. And you watch Aaron Judge come up so small in the heat of that competition. Is that what you want to stick with for years to come?
“You want a dog with you. You want a guy that you can trust to be in the foxhole with you and is going to be out there doing what they are supposed to do. We can look at the rest of the Yankees, but if Aaron Judge had a better series, we’re talking about them winning Game 1, and we’re likely talking about that being a seven-game series — if Aaron Judge had shown up. And If you are Juan Soto, you have to think about that…”
“You watched Aaron Judge come up so small in the heat of that competition, is that what you want to stick with for years to come?” 😳 @stephenasmith on why Juan Soto left the Yankees for the Mets 👀 pic.twitter.com/bMZPq9yQzE
— First Take (@FirstTake) December 11, 2024
Judge did detail last month that he has opted not to talk to Soto throughout his negotiation process, saying that he believed that the best thing to do was to “give him space.” So perhaps Stephen A’s sources, who seem to believe that Judge and Soto aren’t overly close, aren’t too far off.
Regardless, the Yankees were able to land a pretty good consolation prize in free agency, using some of the money they had planned on allocating for Soto on starting pitcher Max Fried. So perhaps Soto’s departure won’t be as big of a loss as Smith and others seem to think it will be.
