Juan Soto's comments about San Diego Padres are nothing short of alarming

If Juan Soto wants a contract extension to stay with the San Diego Padres long term, his recent comments don't seem to illustrate that sentiment.

After suffering a two-game sweep at the hands of the red-hot Seattle Mariners in Seattle, Soto didn't mince words in speaking to the media about how he thought the Padres lineup performed in those contests.

"“We’ve got to play as a team. “We’ve got to go out there and grind every day. Grind every at-bat. ... It’s been really inconsistent. Some days we do, some days we don’t. We gotta do it every day. Days like this series, we just give up. Like literally, we just give up instead of keep grinding, keep pushing. We’ve got to forget about yesterday and keep moving.”"

Juan Soto

Juan Soto believes the San Diego Padres have given up at times this season

It's brutally honest testimony from the 24-year-old, who is rightly frustrated with how the 2023 season has played out to this point. But saying that the Padres have essentially given up? Those words are particularly strong.

Despite these remarks, however, Juan Soto is the furthest to blame for San Diego's ineptitude this year. His 4.2 fWAR and 154 wRC+ in 2023 lead all Padres position players, meaning his value to the club cannot be overstated. That also means his words should matter more because he's got results to back them up. Perhaps his teammates should put away their egos and listen up.

But more than individual production, Soto wants to win. He has a World Series title under his belt, and he wasn't traded to the Padres to fall short of expectations.

So the onus is on San Diego: get back to winning or Soto will likely leverage his impending free agency after next season to find a better situation.