Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals are heading towards an inevitably ugly breakup.
The 23-year-old wunderkind slugger reportedly rejected the team’s 15-year, $440 million extension offer and it sure looks like the Nats are getting ready to trade him.
This comes after the team parted ways with star talents like Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Max Scherzer and Trea Turner in recent years, but that’s not the issue here.
No, the latest sub-controversy bubbling up in Soto World comes down to airfare. Specifically, the Nationals’ decision to not charter a flight from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles to get their lone All-Star—and eventual Home Run Derby champ—to Southern California for the festivities.
So, should the Nats have ponied up for a private plane? Let’s take a quick spin around the FTW office and argue the merits at play here.
Blake Schuster
In this economy? In this heatwave? With these gas prices? Definitely not. Chartering a plane to fly across the country twice for one person—since, ya know, they’d have to bring him back, too—is absurd. Maybe the Nats were being petty by making him fly ~gasp~ commercial, but it’s not like he wasn’t chilling in first class anyways. If the Nationals really wanted to punish Soto for turning down the deal, they would’ve bought him a seat departing from Dulles at like 10 a.m. on a Monday morning.
Andrew Joseph
Like Blake said, it’s one person. Is it really necessary to charter a cross-country private flight for one person? I’m not going to pretend that flying first class to LAX is a hardship that Soto had to overcome. It’s just spin from Scott Boras.
Prince J. Grimes
I don’t know what the protocol is here — whether teams typically charter flights for players riding solo. But even if not, the exception to that would be the 23-year-old who might already be the best player in baseball who you’re actively trying to convince to stay with your team long-term. If that guy makes such a request, the billionaire owner of the Nationals should just do it. Unless, of course, he’s resigned to letting Soto go, which … that sucks too.
Charles Curtis
In a vacuum? Not a big deal, especially given how wasteful it seems to charter a plane for one superstar.
But this is not in a vacuum. This is in the middle of talk that Soto and the Nats don’t see eye to eye on a long-term deal and that the franchise could deal him. So, yeah, it’s fuel on the fire for Scott Boras, and that’s the right move for an agent. In reality, it’s not a HUGE deal, and it won’t be the only reason Soto eventually gets dealt.
I just hope he sat in first class on the flight he took.
Cole Huff
Yes. It’s just what you do. And in the midst of contract negotiations, you would think that the organization would be going above and beyond to make Soto feel as wanted as humanly possible. BUT, maybe they know those talks aren’t going anywhere and this is their response, which would be fine I guess. I don’t know; I’m just speculating. However, I’d bet if the two sides had agreed on a new contract, Soto would have been chartered to Los Angeles and back as he was getting ready to represent the city and organization during one of the most watched events of the season.
It’s certainly not the end of the world that the chartered flight didn’t happen, but it’s something.
Caroline Darney
I’m torn. Realistically, it doesn’t make much sense to just charter a flight for one guy, but wasn’t Dave Martinez also going? How did he get there? Still, a flight for two is wild, but probably pretty common. On the other hand, this feels a lot like an agent making things sound so much more dramatic. I don’t think not chartering a flight for Soto is egregious, but the whole to-do seems very weird.
