The New York Yankees are tied for the most wins so far in the American League East division, but an ongoing batting slump for five-time All-Star Aaron Judge has driven fans to noticeable frustration.
After a portion of the fans elected to boo Judge during his own bobblehead day, announcer Michael Kay warned them that such outbursts could hurt the team’s chances of re-signing Juan Soto after this season.
“You’re trying to seduce Juan Soto to stay,” Kay said on his ESPN show shortly after the incident. “And then Juan Soto sees his own fan base turning on the Yankee captain who broke the American League home run record two years ago. And you’re booing him to what end? Is he not trying? If he wasn’t trying, you should boo him out of the ballpark. What are they doing? There’s nobody that’s immune to booing anymore.”
Juan Soto Might Be Watching New York Yankees Fans’ Reactions to Aaron Judge’s Struggles
Judge has opened the 2024 season with a dismill .174/.308/.337 slash line in 86 at bats, a far cry from the type of production fans imagined their $360 million franchise star would have while hitting after Soto.
“I’ve had seasons where I’ve started off worse than this through my career,” Judge told reporters after acknowledging the unhappy reception after the bobblehead game, according to the Associated Press. “I’ve had seasons where you start off hot and you always hit a rough patch where you hit about .150 in the whole month but it gets mixed in there with the other 500 at-bats. It’s just you got to keep working, keep improving and you’ll get out of it.”
The New York Yankees Will Face Stiff Competition Trying to Re-Sign Juan Soto
Perhaps more pressing than a temporary slump for Judge is the near-term future of Soto, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the San Diego Padres and then agreed to a one-year, $31 million deal with free agency looming.
Soto is off to a .322/.439/.552 start and is widely expected to lead the next class of free agents and land a deal in excess of $500 million. If the Yankees hope to retain his generational talent into the future, they would likely have to not only match the highest offers, but convince Soto that they can offer the kind of home that no other team can.
As a result, between now and Soto signing on a dotted line, almost every development around his free agency is going to be highly scrutinized, even the fanbase’s treatment of his teammates.
It’s hard to say just how heavily the vocal dissatisfaction with Judge might play into Soto’s decision, but it seems clear that his mind is far from made up at this point.
“Soto has said all the right things about becoming a Yankee,” Alden Gonzalez wrote for ESPN. “But he hasn’t been as effusive as one might expect for what feels like such a natural fit — a magnetic, star-level player for a premier franchise. Some have rationalized it as another bargaining move… It might be something else, though: a defense mechanism. Soto doesn’t want to get hurt again, and so he won’t allow himself to.”
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