Before having Juan Soto fly commercial to the MLB All-Star Game in Los Angeles, the Washington Nationals asked their NL East division rivals, the Atlanta Braves, to allow Soto and manager Dave Martinez on their charter to the festivities. According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the Braves declined.
Soto’s agent Scott Boras used the fact his client flew commercial as a knock against the Nationals. He detailed Soto’s experience in comparison to the Braves’ while talking to Samantha Apstein of Sports Illustrated.
“All I know here is that the Atlanta Braves and Juan Soto played a game yesterday. The Atlanta Braves arrived here five hours earlier than Juan Soto did. You know why? Because their team chartered a plane. Juan Soto had to fly on a commercial flight and wait in an airport for two hours and get here at 1:30 in the morning and have to compete in the Home Run Derby. And that’s something that Major League Baseball did not take care of and that’s something that the Washington Nationals did not take care of.”
The ordeal happened a day after reports broke that Soto turned down a $440 million, 15-year contract extension offer from the Nationals. Subsequently, the Nationals are now entertaining trade proposals for Soto ahead of the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
Soto dominated the headlines during the All-Star Game festivities. The 23-year old and his agent made rounds expressing their frustration for contract talks being leaked, presumably by the team.
Just as the Nationals appear to have drawn a line by looking to trade their star player, Boras is doing the same with pointing the finger back at the Nationals.
In this instance, Soto was the Nationals’ lone All-Star Game representative. A Nationals spokesman pointed out to S.I. that every team did not fly their All-Stars in charters. The Oakland Athletics didn’t charter pitcher Paul Blackburn. Instead, Blackburn caught a charter with the Houston Astros.
The Braves were in D.C. for their final series before the All-Star break. However, the Braves sent six players. As Heyman pointed out, a number of team officials and media flew with the players.
Any hardship flying commercial didn’t negatively affect Soto much. He went on to slug his way to win the Home Run Derby Monday, becoming the second-youngest Derby champion.
Moments after winning the Derby, Soto was asked about his future. At that moment he declined to feed into the drama, saying “Right now, I’m not even thinking about it. I’m a champion and I will be a champion for the Nationals.”
As for Boras, contrary to ESPN’s Buster Olney’s claim, the agent could not charter a private flight for his client Soto. Agents are not allowed to provide gifts that cost more than $500 to their clients. Boras pointed out in the initial S.I. report, he would have been in violation of rules of governing agent behavior.
Nonetheless, Soto is set to have a tense next two weeks ahead of the Aug. 2 trade deadline. Soto has turned down three contract offers since November. The Nationals may feel they have no other choice but to move on from him now, even with him under team control through the 2024 season.
Once considered the future of the Nationals organization, Soto appears to understand that his relationship with the club is beyond repair. Thus, his agent will act accordingly moving forward.
