The New York Mets are looking to win baseball games. Whether Juan Soto hits .300 with 40 home runs or not, the Mets' job is to win games at the highest level.
They've done just that, making it even more impressive given some of the struggles Soto has faced early on.
For one of the best pure hitters Major League Baseball has ever seen, Soto isn't playing at the level he hoped for after inking a $765 million deal over 15 years.
Still, Soto hasn't been bad. He has a way above league average 127 OPS+ and is slashing .257/.378/.410. Nearly every hitter in Major League Baseball would die to have those stats.
But everyone knows Soto and the Mets were hopeful for a bit more. Even Steve Cohen, the Mets owner, admitted that when speaking on a podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.
"If you ask him, he'd probably say it's not going as what he hoped. That's not what the back of his baseball card would say," Cohen said of Soto. "But saying that, there's a lot of subtle things that he does that I really think matters. The way that he works the count, makes pitchers throw extra pitches, really matters."
Cohen added that he isn't worried about Soto yet. If it continues for the rest of the year, perhaps there could be something to be upset about, but even then, these aren't bad numbers.
"And saying that, I'm not worried about Juan. He's singularly focused on baseball. He's a pure hitter. Let's have this discussion at the end of the year."
Are they $765 million numbers? No, which is the issue for some Mets fans right now.
It's been 29 games, meaning it's far too early to panic.