Pedro Martinez comes to defense of Juan Soto

Soto has firmly been in the spotlight since he signed a record-breaking 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets in December last year. While Soto has played decently with a .247 batting average and 8 home runs so far, he has not had the best of times in recent games.

During his return to the Yankee Stadium, Soto went 1-for-10 in the 3-game Subway Series. In the 2 games against the Red Sox, he has been 2-for-7, which has raised some eyebrows.

Juan Soto claims Red Sox were ‘top’ of his list during free agency

As the New York Mets engage in a 3-game series with the Boston Red Sox, the free agency saga of Juan Soto was once again brought up. During this, the 26-year-old claimed that the Red Sox were ‘top‘ of his list before he joined the Mets.

Following the end of the 2024 season, Soto became a free agent by declining the one-year qualifying offer from the Yankees. Apart from the two New York clubs, the Red Sox were one of the teams who were involved in the sweepstakes of Soto.

While speaking with The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey, the offer from the Red Sox was something that did interest him. However, in the end he and his camp went in another direction.

I really appreciated what they did and what they brought to the table. I think it was really impressive, what they bring over… Yes, they really were right there, they were at the top of the list. They were pushing really hard, but at the end of the day, I made decisions.

According to reports from Sean McAdam of MassLive, the final offer of the Red Sox was around $700 million for 15 years. If he had accepted that, it would have been the biggest contract offered by the team to any player and would have surpassed the 10-year $313.5 million contract extension of Rafael Devers.

Juan Soto and NY Mets lose back-to-back series

Juan Soto and his team, the New York Mets, have suffered a slump at the moment. Before the Subway Series against the Yankees, the team was flying high. Since then, they have lost back-to-back series as they ended up suffering another defeat on Tuesday.

The game on Tuesday night saw the Mets’ offense being shut out by the Red Sox. The team failed to score any runs and was restricted to just 4 hits through the 9 innings. Soto went 1-for-3 in this game with one walk.

This loss was the Mets’ third loss in a row and their 5th defeat in their last 6 games. This has seen their record go from 28-15 to 29-20. They would be hoping to avoid getting swept on Wednesday before turning their attention towards the Los Angeles Dodgers.