Juan Soto's Comments Hint Heavy Contract Uncertainty with Padres
For the most part, the San Diego Padres have all their major players locked up to long-term contracts. Manny Machado signed a long-term deal this past offseason along with Xander Bogaerts. Pitchers Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and Robert Suarez are here for the foreseeable future, and Fernando Tatis Jr will be a Padre for the rest of his career.
All that is fine and dandy, but then you look at the star player you traded for last season, Juan Soto, and he will be due for some big money soon. Soto, 24, is already one of the most intimidating superstar players in the league; he hasn't even reached his prime yet. Juan is one of the best players in the league, and it'll be great for San Diego to snag him up for the rest of his career, but can they? And even if they could, will Juan want to remain a Friar?
We're not sure about that, and considering where Soto will be batting once Fernando Tatis Jr returns, Soto might not know as well. The lefty slugger will be batting in the two spot; however, he prefers to bat in three to five spots, but he understands why they're putting him there.
“I’m fine with that,” Soto said of the potential change in the batting order. “They explained it to me in spring training. They want two righties behind me so they don’t bring in a lefty for me. I like the plan.”
Still, he doesn't like it and expressed that in his last season as a Washington National.
“The second hole, I can do it here with the lineup we have. I will be fine,” Soto said. “In D.C., I was upset to be hitting in the second hole. I tried to tell (manager) Davey (Martinez). He did what he wanted.”
Sacrifices will need to be made to win a championship, and I'm sure Soto understands that. There are too many great players in this lineup, and egos need to be checked at the door to accomplish what they were built to do.
Juan has made that very clear, but he's also made clear that he wants to win and isn't focused on his free agency status.
“I don’t care about that. I care about winning games and going out and having fun.”
We'll see how much fun he'll have batting in the two hole.
