by Earlier this week, I posted the following on social media:
“Having faith in Mets ownership, [front office], and the manager is a new thing for fans of a certain age like me. But it’s pretty amazing, regardless of the outcome every night. It’s probably why I tend to be positive on a regular basis. I just wish more people would enjoy the ride.”
Many of the responses had a common theme: that the proper ownership and its myriad of bad decisions have scarred many of us, so we’re not quite ready to just be “fine” when things go sideways.
Which, of course, leads us to the struggles of Juan Soto. The big ticket free agent “generational player” is not off to the greatest start in his Mets career and has brought up some bad memories.
In 1981, George Foster finished third in the NL MVP voting, hitting 22 home runs with 90 RBI in the strike-shortened season. It was his sixth straight season of 90-plus RBI, and it was the fourth time in his six seasons that Foster had been in the top 5 of MVP voting.
Then he came to the Mets, and he was a disaster, hitting just 13 HRs and driving in only 70. It was then-GM Frank Cashen’s first huge blunder, and even though Foster would put up decent seasons in 1983-85, he never resembled the MVP-type bat the Mets thought they were getting.
In 1992, Bobby Bonilla came to Queens and was equally terrible as Foster, managing just 19 homers and 70 RBI for the first time money could buy. Like Foster, he would put up respectable numbers in the next two years of his contract, but he was so toxic in the clubhouse, he was traded at the All-Star break in 1995.
In 2009, Jason Bay hit 36 home runs, had 119 RBI, and had an OPS of .921 playing in the spotlight of Boston’s Fenway Park. Bay, who had started his career in the Mets’ minor league system before being traded away, had blossomed into a solid player. He won Rookie of the Year in 2004 with the Pirates and was a three-time All-Star.
The Mets won a bidding war with the Red Sox and signed Bay to a four-year, $66 million contract, hoping Bay would be the impact bat that would get the Mets back into the postseason and beyond.
It did not work out that way.
Like George Foster, Bobby Bonilla, and Carlos Beltran before him, Bay struggled mightily in his first season as a Met and never resembled the power hitter and offensive threat he had been previously.
Some Mets fans say, we are seeing the same scenario play out with Juan Soto.
Now, in his first year with the Mets after signing a record-breaking contract with the Mets after a bidding war with the Yankees is hitting .241 on the year and, as we went to press, hadn’t hit a home run since April 15.
The bad news gets worse: he’s hit just three homers, none at Citi Field, and is hitting just .174 with runners in scoring position (RISP). He’s not the only one having trouble with ducks in the mud, as the Mets are 25th in (.224), with RISP.
The good news is that despite his struggles, his on-base percentage (OBP) is a decent .368 and his at-bats are getting better.
Is this, as Yogi Berra used to say, déjà vu all over again?
Nah. Soto is too good to be this bad, and his career numbers in April have always been murky. Since 2018, his .256 batting average is by far his worst.
It’s now May, and as the weather gets warmer, Soto’s bat will follow suit. Because the alternative ruins my whole narrative, and we certainly don’t want that.
