told The New York Post<\/a> earlier this week that \u201cI think that\u2019s a story that was last year\u2019s story,\u201d but club sources indicated the story bled early into this season, too. According to other players earlier this season, a somewhat frosty relationship between the two stars made it challenging at times to know whom to go to for leadership.<\/p>\nRecently, Lindor and Soto had what multiple club sources described as \u201chard conversations\u201d that led to people feeling better about the situation. Both players, however, pushed back on such a characterization.<\/p>\n
\u201cHard conversations happen every day,\u201d Lindor said. \u201cThey happen every day; it\u2019s just we talk about different things. But I didn\u2019t think it was a hard conversation. It was just, we talked. We talk every single day, whether it\u2019s hitting or different topics. But we definitely talk because at the end of the day, we are teammates and our job is to win games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lindor and Soto both described Mendoza as a strong leader without going as far as confirming his role in any potential conversations with them. Other club sources, however, said Mendoza devoted a lot of energy to making sure Lindor and Soto were on the same page. Whenever Mendoza was asked about the relationship between Soto and Lindor, however, he downplayed any idea that an issue ever existed.<\/p>\n
The genesis of the speculated friction between Soto and Lindor is unknown. Lindor said he didn\u2019t want to elaborate on that or any conversations he had with Soto because such discussions, in his view, should remain in the clubhouse between players.<\/p>\n
In recent days, Soto and Lindor have been seen mingling together in the dugout more than before, adding some substance to the claims that things are trending well. Still, because of injuries, they\u2019ve played just 15 games together this season. In spring training, Lindor missed some time because of an injury while Soto played in the World Baseball Classic. Thus, more time is necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel like our relationship has continued to grow over the years,\u201d Lindor said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been together for two years now. So there\u2019s no reason to say why it didn\u2019t get off on the right foot or anything. It\u2019s just a relationship. A normal relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps things just take time, as Lindor and Soto say. For the Mets, it is vital for that to be the case. Ahead of the 2025 season, Soto signed a 15-year contract worth $765 million. With a deal carrying a total of $341 million, Lindor is under contract for five more seasons. Between the two players, the Mets have committed more than $1 billion. A potential lockout next season makes it more difficult for the Mets to move either player, and, anyway, Cohen told The New York Post, \u201cI don\u2019t see them going anywhere.\u201d So they\u2019re seemingly here to stay.<\/p>\n
Against the backdrop of a second straight bad season for the team, the Mets need Soto and Lindor to be aligned as leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important,\u201d Soto said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of like the core of the team. When you have the whole group together, it goes a long way. It\u2019s not only two guys. It has to be the whole group that comes together. That\u2019s one of the biggest things for a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Lindor: \u201cWe have the two long-term contracts here. We\u2019re going to get to know each other a lot more. I am looking forward to the future and continuing to grow with him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto insist their relationship is fine. The New York Mets need it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,1830,85],"class_list":["post-777780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}