Pablo Soto Speaks
Does He Have a Future with the Mounties?
by Caitlen Sullivan
Vancouver Sun Sports Reporter
November 6, 2035
Today I devote my column to a transcript of Pablo Soto’s recent interview on CKST Sports Radio Vancouver with baseball analyst and former Mountie third baseman Nick Mannerden:
[NM] So, welcome Pablo to CKST’s Baseball Report.
[PS] Thanks, Nick. It’s always a pleasure. Sort of.
[NM] Well, you had an interesting year. You hit .299 but only got into 66 games. Any physical problems?
[PS] Nah. I was healthy all year. And I only started 50 something games. It was very frustrating. No one likes languishing in the dugout. Especially when it’s a conspriracy.
[NM] Conspiracy? How so?
[PS] So, a new GM struts into town a few weeks into the season and figures he needs to get rid of me and my contract somehow. I had a opt out clause at the end of 2035 where I could get out of the final four years on my contract. I can only assume that management figured if I didn’t get to play, I’d opt out.
[NM] Well, you did have a pretty awful year in 2034 after first signing that big contract with Omaha and then getting traded here mid-season.
[PS] Anyone can have an off year. And getting uprooted again didn’t help either. I was hitting the ball good this year but the club preferred playing a .243 guy over me. I’d rather play third actually, but no way was I getting a chance there with Menne doing his thing.
[NM] You publically stated on several occasion that you wanted to be traded. Are you upset that a trade didn’t occur.
[PS] That new GM told me the market sucked and there were no takers for me. Somehow or other, I fail to believe that.
[NM] Well, you were unhappy here and you had the chance to opt out. Why didn’t you? The free agent market is being characterized as weak. So you had the chance to leave and didn’t. How come?
[PS] Look, I’m a realist. I know my team options in 2038 and 2039 will never be picked up. Even I don’t think I’m worth $19 million a year. So I was looking at two more guaranteed years here at $10 million. That’s a lot of money.
[NM] So you don’t think you could get $10 million in free agency?
[PS] I’d like to think I’m worth that. But I have a wife and three kids. I’m 31. Could I risk it? I decided that I couldn’t.
[NM] Does it bother you that some people in the media are calling you a hypocrite?
[PS] Of course, it does. But they don’t know shit and don’t care about me or my family’s welfare. I just shrug it off. I have to do what’s best for me and my family.
[NM] So you’re ready to languish on the bench for two more years here in Vancouver?
[PS] NO F#*KING WAY. I’m going to show up in the Spring in the best shape of my life. I’m going to be at the top of my game. I plan on showing them that I belong in the starting lineup and that they will have to be nuts not to play me.
[NM] You think you have a chance at starting again?
[PS] Look. Zi-jing Lou is a nice kid. He’s a decent shortstop. But I can outfield him and I can out hit him and at 31 I think I can even still outrun him. And if he can up his game, he can play at second, or first, or in the outfield. I’m going to be the shortstop in 2036. Case closed.
[NM] OK. So. Plans for the off season?
[PS] I’m going home to Panama tomorrow with the wife and kids and I’m gonna be working my butt off all winter. I’m coming to camp in the spring to win the job. That’s all that matters.
[NM] We’ll be watching come March. Thanks for stopping by.
[PS] Peace out, bro. See you in March.