By the numbers, Soto promises to be a good Met
Elizabethtown, Ky.: Some have seen Juan Soto’s slow start to the 2025 season, looked back to the record-setting contract that was signed and posed the question of whether or not he’s worth it. Through the first 20 games of the 2025 season, Soto has a slash line of .225/.368/.408, for a .776 on-base plus slugging (OPS). Somehow, it seems they expected more.
Boasting a career .949 OPS, Soto brings so much to the Mets. In his first seven years, he posted a .900-plus OPS six times, and the other season his OPS was .853. With a background like that, it’s understandable that many people would think he should be consistently performing at a high level. It’s that anticipation, at least in part, that is so significant for this team.
Take a look around. The Mets are 13-7 and have a better record than any team outside of the National League West Division. That’s good for the third-best record in the major leagues! And if those people feel Soto is underperforming, what will the Mets look like when he comes around? Because he will.
In 2023, his slash line through game 20 was .194/.372/.418 for an OPS of .790, and he ended the season with 35 home runs, 109 runs batted in and a .930 OPS. Is Soto worth the monumental contract? It doesn’t matter. He’s here. He’s a Met. Will he live up to the expectations in the long run? I’m betting on his track record, which says, “Yes!” Timothy Streeter
Primary fear
Manhattan: It’s scary. While climate breakdown blows the roofs off our homes, floods our cities and incinerates our neighborhoods, the Trump administration and its Republican congressional toadies strive to strip the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies of key climate protections developed over decades by bipartisan lawmakers. Our state lawmakers dominate headlines by dawdling their budget over non-life/death matters (when have you last heard Gov. Hochul pushing to pass the NY HEAT Act?). And our city leaders and mayoral hopefuls repeatedly cite crime and costs, but seldom climate breakdown, as our chief adversaries. Really scary. Lisa Meyer
We’re with you
Manhattan: In a recent editorial, you bemoaned the fact that President Trump’s EPA has pivoted from protecting the planet to promoting pollution (“Lee Zeldin’s Earth Day letdown,” April 23). What’s a New Yorker to do? Trump is using federal overreach to harm states like ours that have progressive climate laws. He has pulled the plug on New York’s only large-scale offshore wind project in development and is threatening our Climate Change Superfund Act, which charges oil and gas companies a modest sum to help taxpayers in building the climate resilience we are so going to need in the coming decades. Hochul has stood up to the bully for congestion pricing (so far) and she’s doing so for offshore wind, or trying to. Good for you, governor! Stand your ground. The people have your back. David Wolfson
Sacrificing soldiers
Howard Beach: One of the primary obligations of the commander in chief is the safety of the men and women who serve in our military. Trump has failed miserably in this obligation by refusing to fire Pete Hegseth, who made a second Signal chat call where secret military plans were given. On this call were his wife, brother and lawyer. There is no doubt that Hegseth is unfit to be secretary of defense. Trump’s protection of him comes at the expense of our military. Barbara Berg
Explain this one
Slidell, La.: Voicer Tom Saracco defended his 2024 vote for Trump by spouting all the MAGA talking points repeatedly heard on Fox News, OAN, Newsmax and other right-wing media outlets denouncing Democrats and their policies as anti-white. As a white man of nearly 70, I have heard this garbage almost all my adult life. The facts don’t support this point of view. Systemic racism in America is a fact, and it’s not against white people. Households headed by whites who are high school dropouts have more wealth than households headed by Blacks with a college degree. Was Lloyd Austin — with 40 years’ experience in the Army, reaching the rank of four-star general with commands that included U.S. Central Command and U.S. forces in Iraq — a DEI appointment as secretary of defense as compared to Hegseth, who reached the rank of major and was a weekend morning show host on Fox? Gerard Kay
Phallic flags
Brooklyn: So, Trump is funding two (large) 100-foot poles on White House grounds. I wonder what he is trying to compensate for. Peter Magnotta
Protected by law
Manhattan: Voicer Peter McCarthy offers a brain-teaser in his comments regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s erroneous deportation. The conundrum: the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction is over the U.S., but our president has apparently experienced a palingenesis of Jacksonian defiance, refusing to facilitate the deportee’s return. McCarthy refers to Abrego Garcia as an “illegal immigrant,” but he was in the country with the right to work after an immigration judge issued an order withholding his removal, a proceeding that would appear to establish a more credible fear of being sent to his country of origin than an application for asylum. This likely affords Abrego Garcia rights under the Geneva Convention and protocols, international treaties to which the U.S. and El Salvador are signatories. Since treaties constitute the supreme law of the land, the Supreme Court could probably prohibit payments to El Salvador. If Nayib Bukele remained defiant, the Voicer seems correct in assessing the inefficacy of the court’s order. Michele P. Brown
Lower that glass
Scarsdale, N.Y.: Mayor Adams said he won’t have tequila drinks with a gang member (“Eric echoes Don talking points on immigrant’s deport to El Salvador,” April 23). I wonder if that means no cocktails with all those friends of his who have been indicted, pled guilty or been convicted of crimes. John Kern
No mercy
Manhattan: All religious leaders, including Pope Francis, have said that we should give compassion and understanding to the less fortunate, but without compassion, our leader labels all undocumented immigrants as unwanted in our country. Many are helping or could help rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. He then directs hatred and fear-mongering against them. He and his buddies laugh and gloat as they fire federal workers. If he fired them all, it would save only 4.3% of our budget. Not one ounce of compassion or understanding was given to these workers. Trump censors certain books and what can be taught to keep federal funding. The courts are disobeyed unless the Supreme Court rules. All of this reminds us of past and present despots in other countries. The only hope is the ballot box in future elections. Leonard Smoke
Principled exit
Walden, N.Y.: I just read the article about CBS newsman Bill Owens quitting rather than bowing to the dictator wannabe (” ’60 Minutes’ legend Owens quits rather than cave to Trump,” April 23). This is yet another blow to free speech by the clowns trying their best to kill democracy. If his successor doesn’t stand up to Trump, he or she should be fired. Americans need all the real news they can get. Jake Milite
Nothing solid
Houston: Joe Biden is no longer president, folks! Talk of his mental acuity or ability to run the country is about scoring political points with an imagined cover-up. Nobody knows when Joe began having cognitive issues, whether he had a diagnosed cognitive issue or its severity, whether his alleged cognitive issues “ebbed and flowed” (which is what most of his staff talked about), or whether he was on medication that cured him, helped him or was ineffective at points when he was making decisions for the country. It can’t be about the economy because the Biden economy was empirically the best in 50 years. It can’t be about the southern border because it was Congress that killed the bipartisan border bill. It can’t be about his handling of world crises because he basically continued what Trump was doing in his first term, and (except for supporting Ukraine) Trump is now continuing what Biden did. Dana LeJune
Lately conciliatory
Charlotte, N.C.: To Voicers Thomas and Constance Dowd: I loved the final sentences in your letter — forget the animosity. It’s time to work together for the good of the country or step aside! Where was that sentiment when Biden was president? Barbara Haynes
