The Major League Baseball offseason kicked into full gear on Sunday night when superstar outfielder Juan Soto reportedly agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract to join the New York Mets. Soto, who is a four-time All-Star selection and former World Series champion, previously played for the crosstown rival New York Yankees last season, but has now reportedly moved to the National League on the largest contract in professional sports history. Before the purported news circulated social media on Sunday night, WFAN host Keith McPherson was discussing the possibilities surrounding Soto’s free agency and welcomed MLB Network insider and New York Post columnist Jon Heyman on his Friday program to discuss the news.
During the interview on WFAN, McPherson mentioned Heyman’s social media post from two years ago in which he tweeted, “Arson Judge appears headed to Giants,” misspelling the first name of the Yankees slugger. Additionally, he asked Heyman what share of Soto’s new contract he would receive, assuming that agent Scott Boras was leaking information and potentially paying him to write certain things. Ostensibly taking this as a threat to his credibility, Heyman emphatically expressed his disbelief and proclaimed that he would not appear on WFAN again. Gregg Giannotti came to the defense of his colleague and also admitted that the segment was funny.
“It’s just great when he flips out and hangs the phone up,” Giannotti said. “Now, after doing a lot of thinking about this, talking to Keith in person about it, I’ve come to this conclusion. Keith, whether you agree or not about him bringing up those things, meaning the Boras relationship or the Arson Judge tweet, was ont doing it in a malicious manner at all.”
Giannotti presumed that McPherson did not foresee Heyman taking umbrage towards parts of the discussion that could have been insinuated. In fact, morning show co-host Boomer Esiason added that McPherson mentioned that he brought Heyman on because of the respect he has merited and integrity exhibited as a journalist. Giannotti added that McPherson is immersed in the internet world and that the narrative of Heyman being connected to Boras for his information has percolated.
“What I think happened was Jon has heard that Boras thing a million times – he’s heard it a million times – he’s probably sick of it,” Giannotti said. “It was the two-year anniversary, actually, of the Arson Judge tweet, so he might have seen a lot that day. It’s been a long offseason of him dealing with this Soto thing. He’s on WFAN on a Friday night with a host he doesn’t particularly know, and he just lost it.”
Esiason was surprised to learn that some people were calling for McPherson to be fired from WFAN after the Heyman interview. Prior to making this remark, Esiason stated that McPherson is “a huge Yankees shill” and someone who fans can trust will speak positively about the team. At the same time, he acknowledged that Mets fans may not appreciate McPherson, especially as it pertains to this type of situation.
“The reaction to it was insane to me,” Giannotti said. “Like nobody really cares that much about protecting Jon Heyman. Everybody was such a fraud with that deal, and then when I made a joke about it and put it out there, people responded, ‘Oh, don’t stoop to Keith’s level. Oh, you guys are so classless. Oh, don’t go down low like that.’ I’m like, ‘Wait a second. First of all, I’m not above anything.’ I’m not above being sophomoric, I’m not above being a jerk, I’m not above any of that stuff. I don’t know why anybody would think that. We’re here, we trash talk everybody all day long.”
Esiason recollected that Heyman was once a paid contributor at WFAN when Mark Chernoff was responsible for its programming. Giannotti recalled that it coincided with his time as a producer and was borne out of the outlet not breaking a lot of stories. Heyman appeared on several programs to discuss baseball, but GIannotti remembers Esiason and Carton declining the offer. Esiason articulated that he did not want to hear regurgitated topics from the newspaper and that there was “really no substance” since players can change their minds.
“That’s why I found it curious or funny or interesting – whatever you want to use – when Jon’s like, ‘I’m done with WFAN,’” Giannotti said. “They paid him a lot of money for a long time to do squat. That’s a fact – they really did.”
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