Yankees announcer expands on why Juan Soto is 'very glum' with Mets

A Monday report mentioned that individuals within the New York Mets' "hierarchy" are "concerned" about the lack of enthusiasm star outfielder Juan Soto has shown over the first two months of the ongoing campaign after Soto left the New York Yankees to sign with the Mets this past offseason. 

During Monday's edition of his "The Michael Kay Show," the Yankees' play-by-play announcer expanded on what is allegedly going on with Soto behind the scenes. 

"Here’s what I found out," Kay said, as shared by Reice Shipley of Awful Announcing. "People that I talked to on the Mets side, and they can deny it publicly, because, of course, that’s what they have to do, he is very, very glum around the clubhouse. He does not have a hop in his step. He does not smile much. I’m not gonna say he is unhappy. Because how can you be unhappy with a $765M contract? But money is not a guarantee that you are gonna be comfortable somewhere."

Shortly after Soto inked a 15-year, $765M contract that could reportedly exceed $800M total to join the Mets, a report indicated that "money" and the fact that his "immediate family" liked Mets co-owners Steve and Alex Cohen resulted in the 26-year-old picking the Amazins over the Yankees in free agency. To compare, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner reportedly stopped at $760M over 16 years during negotiations with Soto's camp. 

More recently, Soto suggested ahead of this past weekend's Subway Series that staying with the Yankees was his "No. 1" choice before the two sides "couldn’t get it done." On Monday, Kay directly said that Soto's "preference" was to commit his long-term future to the Bronx Bombers.. 

"His family said, 'You are going to the Mets.' His family felt very comfortable around Alex and Steve Cohen," Kay continued. "And they said, 'You are going to the Mets.' And he is a guy that listens to his family. So I think at this point, he is probably a bit down, pouting a bit."

Soto noticeably didn't hustle out of the batter's box in back-to-back games -- during a Sunday night loss at the Yankees and in Monday's defeat at the Boston Red Sox. According to Garrett Stepien of SNY, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters after Monday's 3-1 loss to Boston that he planned to speak with Soto about getting out of the box with a bit more urgency. 

"I think I've been hustling pretty hard," Soto later said. "If you see it today, you could tell."

For what it's worth, The Athletic's Tim Britton and Will Sammon shared on Monday that "there hasn’t been any concern about how Soto is fitting in during the first year of his 15-year deal" among people within the Mets' clubhouse. Over his first 47 games with the Mets, Soto slashed .246/.376/.439 with an .815 OPS, eight home runs and 20 RBI. 

Until he gets hot at the plate, questions about whether or not Soto is truly missing sharing a lineup with Yankees captain Aaron Judge will continue to hover over the Mets for the foreseeable future.