In the last couple of days, it was revealed that the Washington Nationals didn’t want to provide a private flight (charter) for star Juan Soto to go to the Home Run Derby on Monday.
It happened after he rejected a 15-year, $440 million offer from the team over the weekend.
Were they mad that he turned that money down and decided to “punish” him by making him go to Los Angeles on a commercial flight?
They will never admit it, but that may very well be the case.
ESPN analyst Buster Olney discussed the uncomfortable situation on Twitter.
“The Nationals should’ve chartered a private flight for Juan Soto to the HR Derby. In lieu of the Nats doing the right thing, Scott Boras also had the opportunity to arrange a flight for the client. In lieu of team or agent stepping up, Soto makes $17.1m; he could’ve done it, too,” Olney tweeted.
The Nationals should've chartered a private flight for Juan Soto to the HR Derby. In lieu of the Nats doing the right thing, Scott Boras also had the opportunity to arrange a flight for the client. In lieu of team or agent stepping up, Soto makes $17.1m; he could've done it, too.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 21, 2022
Everybody Dropped The Ball
What he wants to say is that the three entities/people in question here, which are team, agent, and player, had the opportunity to book a private flight to Los Angeles for Soto.
No one did, so everybody dropped the ball.
However, Olney states, there should be a priority order for people to step up in this case.
The Nationals should have secured him a private flight, just like the vast majority of players at the Derby and the All-Star Game.
Boras could have done it too, and the same goes for Soto.
But the team should be in charge of those things, and they showed how little they care.
It’s something trivial: there shouldn’t be any issues with taking a commercial flight.
But those little details can wear off the relationship between Soto and the Nationals.
NEXT: Analyst Tells Fans To Avoid The Juan Soto PR Spin