Baseball fans teed off on the Washington Nationals for trying to lowball Juan Soto

Juan Soto knows better than to swing at a pitch this low

As the last few months of the MLB owners’ lockout have shown us, there’s nothing baseball’s ruling class appreciates more than opening a negotiation with a laughable offer.

On the macro level, its Major League Baseball refusing to admit it is overflowing with profits that haven’t trickled down to the players generating those returns. On Wednesday, fans got to see these tactics on a more individual level.

ESPN’s Enrique Rojas spoke with Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto this week and learned the 23-year-old’s franchise offered him a 13-year, $350 million contract extension. At first glance, it’s hard not to be wowed by the number, but once you do some simple math, it becomes very easy to understand why Soto turned down the deal—and should probably feel insulted by it.

Aside from buying out the remainder of Soto’s arbitration eligible years, the deal breaks down to a $27 million annual salary. That puts him well below comparable talents like former teammate Max Scherzer ($43.3 mil AAV), Gerritt Cole ($36 mil AAV), Mike Trout ($35.5 AAV), Anthony Rendon ($35 mil AAV), Francisco Lindor ($34.1 AAV), Nolan Arenado ($32.5 mil AAV) and Mookie Betts ($30.4 mil AAV).

Not only will Soto reach free agency at age 26 if the Nats don’t extend him before then, the outfielder could—read: “probably will”—see a deal that pays around $500 million. It’s a fact so obvious to anyone paying attention that baseball fans immediately piled on the Nats for thinking they could get away with anything less than market value for arguably the best hitter in baseball.

Juan Soto deserves better, but then again, so did Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon. Thankfully, the Nationals have baseball fans on social media to remind them.

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