Juan Soto reminded teams the one reason he might not be worth all those zeros

Juan Soto's free agency was already poised to break records this winter, and the New York Yankees outfielder has done pretty much nothing but add zeroes onto his inevitable megadeal over the past few months. Soto set a career high with 41 homers during the regular season, then delivered multiple big swings while helping New York reach its first World Series since 2009. It's hard to make a more convincing case for your status as a franchise-altering player.

Soto's performance in Game 1 of the World Series, however, served as a helpful reminder for teams looking to hand him the bag. He may seem too good to be true, and he's certainly worth the history-making contract he'll inevitably sign this offseason. But the case for signing Soto isn't all sunshine and roses.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work onThe Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Juan Soto's defense in World Series Game 1 should give free-agent suitors pause

Soto is just about unimpeachable at the plate, combining the best plate approach in the Majors with incredible bat control and plus power to all fields — oh, and he's just entering his prime at age 26. But while chicks dig the long ball, baseball is about more than just hitting. And that's where Soto's profile leaves something to be desired, as his play during Game 1 showed.

The Yankees star was rough in the outfield all night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and that might be putting it kindly. First came a fly ball from Enrique Hernandez, which Soto not only couldn't get to in time but then played into a triple by taking a bad angle.

Hernandez would come around to score on a sac fly to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

Then came the eighth inning, with New York clinging to a 2-1 lead and looking to hold on for a series-altering win. Shohei Ohtani smoked one off the wall in right field, but while Soto got the ball quickly enough to make you think he might have a play at second base, it took him two seconds to finally get the ball out of his glove — and then his throw got away from Gleyber Torres, allowing Ohtani to advance to third (and eventually score on another sac fly).

If Soto had played things a bit differently, it's possible that the Dodgers don't even get to extra innings to set up Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam. Which isn't a reason to avoid signing Soto, of course; any team in the league would kill for the privilege of slotting him into the middle of its lineup for the next decade. But it is a reminder that Soto isn't perfect, and that handing him a 10- or 12-year deal might not age as well as fans think.