But you don’t pay someone more than $50 million a year to have them play second-fiddle to a veteran, even if Soto doesn’t rate well defensively. Eventually, Soto could move to a full-time DH role, but that move isn’t coming anytime soon.
“I think he is probably about a league average right fielder, and we think he has the ability to get better,” said Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns. “That’s something that we actually talked to Juan about during our meetings with him, and he is very motivated to continue to improve his defense. He got better this past year and we think we can take another step.”