New York Yankees play-by-play voice Michael Kay has taken it upon himself to dissect everything about Juan Soto’s first season with the New York Mets. And on Wednesday, Soto’s recent comments about missing out on the 2025 MLB All-Star Game were a topic of conversation for Kay.
When asked about being snubbed of an All-Star Game spot following Tuesday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles, Soto explained that it is “a part of baseball” to sometimes be on the wrong side of an All-Star Game snub, explaining how there are “a lot of players out there with great numbers” that he believes deserve to be a part of the game.
“I mean, it’s a part of baseball,” said Soto. “There is a lot of players out there with great numbers that deserve to be there. It’s a roster with only 25 guys. They can’t take all of the guys into it. It happens.”
Soto was then asked a follow-up question about whether he actually wanted to be a part of the All-Star team if he had a choice in the matter. And Soto responded with a comment that seemed to be somewhat in jest about the “money on the table” that he is losing out on by not being a part of the All-Star Game.
“What do you think? I think it’s a lot of money on the table,” replied Soto.
Breaking down Soto’s All-Star snub on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Kay Show, Kay explained that, in his eyes, Soto has every right to feel as if he should have been named an All-Star.
“I was ready for Soto to say, ‘Of course I was disappointed. I want to be amongst the best, I consider myself one of the best.’ Because he has a legitimate beef that he is not on the All-Star team,” said Kay. “You can hate Juan Soto. You can be a Yankee fan that is upset that he signed with the Mets. He is the very definition of an All-Star. Bad April, bad May, unbelievable June, and he has had a good beginning of July as well. The only thing you can actually pick apart with Juan Soto is that this year, up to this point, he has not hit with runners in scoring position. Everything is predicated on WAR, right? Wins Above Replacement. His WAR is better than that of Fernando Tatis Jr. He has got an OPS over .900, that’s an All-Star.”
What Kay did take issue with when it came to Soto’s comments was his comment about “leaving money on the table”, which he believes is a bad look considering the fact that Soto is receiving $46.88 million in the first year of his 15-year $765 million deal with the Mets.
“Talk about being tone-deaf,” said Kay. “Come on, Juan. The last I looked, you are making a smidge under $47 million this season. And you are upset that you aren’t making the All-Star Game because of an All-Star bonus you have in your contract? Do you know how bad that looks that you said that? Even if you thought it, fine. What kind of expenditures do you have?
“I don’t even know what the bonus is. Let’s say it’s $500,000, which is nothing to sneeze at. But you do make $47 million this year. To even speak that, do you realize how it makes you look? There are gonna be players that make $40 million a year that are going to roll their eyes. Why would you even speak that into existence? Do you know how bad it makes you look?
“I gotta be honest with you, when I first saw that he said that, I thought that it was some AI nonsense. I said, there is no way that he said that. There is no way that someone I know, that is a smart dude, and is represented by one of the smartest people I have ever met in the business, Scott Boras, would ever say something like that. What a dumb AI thing to do. So, I said, let me get the real deal. Let me go to SNY’s site on X. And there it is, he really said it!”
Clearly, Kay didn’t think that Soto made the comment in a sarcastic nature like most baseball fans appeared to. Either that, or Kay just wanted some further material to be critical of Soto about, which has been a trend this season.
Either way, it sure seems like Kay doesn’t plan to stop talking about the former Yankee anytime soon.