The $765 million man, New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto, was set to be mic'd up by ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball amid the heated MLB Rivalry Week series against his former team, the New York Yankees. Soto's return to the Bronx has been widely covered, especially with Yankees fans feasting on sour grapes with their reaction to his return. However, if there was ever a case to be made that Soto either regrets his decision to move across town to Queens or simply is tired of the attention, he just made it with the late decision to not wear the mic for ESPN.
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported on Sunday afternoon, about 1.5 hours before first pitch at Yankee Stadium, that Soto would no longer be mic'd up for Sunday Night Baseball. Instead, Mets veteran Brandon Nimmo will take his place. This comes after ESPN's Buster Olney said publicly on X/Twitter that he planned to ask Soto about his former teammate, Aaron Judge, and the historic pace the Yankees slugger is off to at the start of the season.
The Soto and Judge dynamic has already been at the forefront this season after Soto essentially said that he was off to a slow start (by his standards, at least) because, in part, he no longer has Judge in the lineup with him as protection. Those comments caused quite a stir, and perhaps that's what the Mets superstar is trying to avoid more of by not taking the microphone from ESPN.
At the same time, it doesn't seem like the best of looks either.
Juan Soto bails on being mic'd up for Sunday Night Baseball as Judge, Yankees questions loomed
Whether or not Soto is intentionally dodging more questions about Judge and his departure for the Yankees, it's impossible not to read it that way. He was slated to be put in the spotlight during the finale of the Subway Series and then backed out at the last minute. Those are the tell-tale signs of a player trying to avoid some sort of moment. In this case, what moment is pretty obvious.
One does have to wonder how things would've transpired for Sunday Night Baseball had Soto individually performed better in the first two games against the Yankees. While the Mets split those first two games, the left-handed star went just 1-for-6 with four walks over those two games. Having said that, he shouldn't have been too harsh on himself for that given that Judge was 2-for-9 with four strikeouts and a walk in the pair of contests as well.
Regardless of Soto's reasons for backing out of the mic'd up segment, though, it's only going to fuel Yankees fans further moving forward. That fan base has already been preaching that Soto regrets his 15-year commitment to play in Queens. They've also been ready to pounce at any sign of weakness or vulnerability. This undeniably qualifies as that, and we can be 100 percent sure that this will be used against him in some capacity.
And if it really was to avoid talking about Judge and his departure from the Yankees, that's probably deserved.