Juan Soto made $765M and is underpaid; movies these days; and one tip for going car-free

Roundup - December 12, 2024

Good Thursday, and welcome to the Out in Left roundup, in which I highlight things about sports, politics, and American life without a car that subscribers should know about. This week’s roundup includes:

• Juan Soto made $765 million and is underpaid.

• What’s up with movies this year?

And, as always, there’s a tip for going car-free (or car-light). 

If any of this is interesting, and/or you want to support Out in Left in its mission of thinking differently about American society and culture, then please subscribe below. Subscribers receive these weekly emails, as well as access to the archives and subscriber-only lists (like the upcoming list of tips for going car-free/light and the Political Sports Figure Hall of Fame). If you’re already a subscriber, then, with all sincerity: thank you.

ICYMI

Two pieces of mine hit the internet recently. For San Diego Magazine, I wrote about ten young athletes to watch in San Diego:

Avocados, craft beer, and Taylor guitars are some of San Diego’s most notable exports, but the city has a less-touted gift: Our backyard is known for fostering some of the most elite athletic talent in the country.

Every year, local athletes from the North County down to the South Bay fill the college ranks and are selected in professional drafts. Few areas in the US send as many athletes to the highest levels of sport, and it seems like San Diegans are only getting better and more prominent. Want proof? Akili Smith, a Lincoln High School alum who was the third overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft, might not be the best athlete in his family—not if his son, featured below, has anything to say about it.

And for this publication I wrote about how drunk bike rides are good for the soul.

Juan Soto deserves every cent and more

Juan Soto (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The New York Mets signed outfielder Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract this week, and I have three takeaways.

1. Juan Soto is underpaid. He is worth more to Mets owner Steve Cohen than $765 million. The team would not pay him that much if he wasn’t. No matter the size of the contract, every professional athlete earns less than their value to the team. All of us wage laborers are paid less than what our work is worth. Even if you don’t subscribe to Marxian economics, which holds that economic value is determined by labor and capitalism inherently exploits workers, then you must admit that a business would never hire (or keep) a worker who is paid more than the value that they create.

2. I’m surprised by how little anti-Soto backlash there is. It used to be that, when a high-profile free agent signed a mega-deal, every pundit, from the studio chair to the armchair, would question that athlete's value. Now, it seems more attention is paid to a given owner’s resources or the mega-deals impact on team building. (The latter is still anti-labor, especially in leagues with a salary cap—don’t pay players less, abolish the caps—but take team building rules at face value and there is valid criticism there.) On one hand, that’s progress. Media has always aligned with the owners’ interests, even if unwittingly. On the other hand, it’s concerning. Have we all accepted extreme wealth as virtuous? Tax Cohen’s capital gains, please.