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Juan Soto is “glum” around the Mets’ clubhouse and he wanted to return to the Yankees last offseason before signing a historic 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets, Yanks’ broadcaster Michael Kay claimed on his radio show on Monday.
Soto has faced intense scrutiny after his less-than-stellar return to The Bronx over the weekend, which has included knocks on how hard he runs after hits to his apparent happiness in Queens.
Kay prefaced his comments on his show – “The Michael Kay Show” – by saying that he had spoken to people involved with the Yankees and the Mets, and he had arrived at 8 a.m. before Saturday’s game, and “really talked for hours with people.”
“People that I talked to on the Mets side, and they can deny it publicly, because, of course, that’s what they have to do, he is very, very glum around the clubhouse,” Kay said, according to Awful Announcing. “He does not have a hop in his step. He does not smile much. I’m not gonna say he is unhappy. Because how can you be unhappy with a $765 million contract? But money is not a guarantee that you are gonna be comfortable somewhere.”
So what exactly made him join the Mets?
Kay claimed that Soto wanted to remain a Yankee and that it had been his family that pushed him to sign with the Mets because they “felt very comfortable around Alex and Steve Cohen.”
“Why isn’t he happy? It comes down to this. I’ll say it now, and it will be denied. Of course, it has to be denied. But I have talked to people that I respect. He wanted to return to the Yankees,” Kay said. “That was his preference. His family said, ‘You are going to the Mets.’ His family felt very comfortable around Alex and Steve Cohen. And they said, ‘You are going to the Mets.’ And he is a guy that listens to his family. So I think at this point, he is probably a bit down, pouting a bit. And then to come into Yankee Stadium with three straight sellout crowds, at a place that was his Field of Dreams. It became his Field of Nightmares over the weekend.”
It was the second report that surfaced on Monday related to Soto’s happiness in Flushing.
In a column published by NJ.com, Bob Klapisch reported that the “Mets’ hierarchy” was “concerned about Soto’s lack of enthusiasm for his new team.”
“The only time Soto seemed happy this weekend was while he interacted with Judge, manager Aaron Boone and second baseman Jazz Chisholm during batting practice,” he wrote.
The scrutiny over Soto is sure to ratchet up with the slugger and the Mets in the middle of a slump.
Soto had just one hit in four at-bats on Monday night in the Mets’ 3-1 loss to the Red Sox.
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