If there is any sports where fans should be patient, it should be baseball. But don’t tell that to WFAN host Sal Licata when it comes to the highest priced player in American professional sports in Juan Soto.
Soto signed a 15 year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets this offseason, the largest one in the history of professional sports. And with a contract that size, there will always be outsized expectations when it comes to performance on the field.
But if Juan Soto does indeed play 15 years with the New York Mets, surely the first month of his career will be the smallest tip of the iceberg of his time with the franchise. Baseball is not the NFL. It’s not college football. And it’s not even the NBA or the NHL. The season lasts 162 games and what happens in April as players are warming up and getting into a rhythm could be totally different from where their season ultimately ends up in September.
Alas, Sal Licata is not ready to wait till September or even May when it comes to criticizing Juan Soto. The slugger is off to a slowish start with .231/.367/.431 splits and 3 home runs along with 7 RBIs in 18 games. However, the Mets are on top of the NL East at 11-7 and surely their new signing needs some time to acclimate to his new surroundings. All should be well, right?
Not so fast according to Licata. He didn’t offer some gentle encouragement to Soto. He didn’t offer a pep talk. He didn’t preach patience. Instead he went on a nuclear level rant that would have you think he was doing as much harm to the franchise as Bobby Bonilla.
“Juan Soto has stunk to start his Mets career,” Licata screamed. “I never thought I would be at this point with Juan Soto, a guy I begged and pleaded the Mets to go get. A guy I wanted more than any player ever in my fandom. I wanted Juan Soto. The Mets delivered. And every single time this guy has come up in a big spot this year, and there have been plenty, he has failed.”
“And yesterday, a despicable 0-5 with three strikeouts, leaving a small village on the basepaths as the Mets lose a series. You don’t pay $765 million to a guy who gets on base 40% of the time. Bullcrap. Every single time he’s come up in a big spot, he has failed this year. He did not do that with the Yankees. I don’t want to hear the excuses from Soto. I don’t want to hear that the walks are good. I want to start seeing some production. Now!” Licata yelled.
Dude, it’s April 17th. Chill. It’s almost like every stereotype about the New York media and sports talk radio come to life in one 54 second clip.
Sal Licata is no stranger to some pretty fiery rants and he’s even owned some clownish tendencies before. But this? It’s been 18 games. There is a 99.9999% chance that Juan Soto will be just fine and by the end of the season will be putting up All-Star and MVP caliber numbers. If Soto is struggling when it comes time for the Jets and Giants to take the field, then it will be time to panic and sound the alarm bells.
And this is with the Mets in first place, could you imagine what this rant would be like if they had a losing record?