listened intently. This was Rojas delivering a seminar on the finer points of playing shortstop in the big leagues, and Betts, standing two feet away, was like an A+ student sitting in the front row taking notes of every word. The two men had just finished taking ground balls for a half hour, and Rojas was delivering an infielder's version of class review.
Betts' climb to another echelon is one of a half dozen early season trends that stand out -- but which will still be true at season's end?The metrics suggest that Betts has played an above-average shortstop -- he has scored a plus-3 in defensive runs saved, behind onlyat his position -- but more importantly, his production at the plate right now is peerless.
Agents speculate that the two big numbers that Scott Boras, Soto's agent, will target are $500 million in a total package, as well as the record for any position player, which would be anything beyond's $426.5 million. While there might be other teams involved in the chase, all he really needs to push salary benchmarks is to be the object of a Yankees Vs. Mets bidding war.'s contract, which is $461 million because of the amount of deferred money in Ohtani's deal .