The New York Mets’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in June was another example of how difficult it is to move with tens of millions of dollars hanging from a player’s neck. Juan Soto‘s $75 million signing bonus could be seen bludgeoning him about the head and shoulders as he struggled to make it to first base on a hard-hit ball to second base. His back was aching. His calves were cramping. Heat stroke was setting in. It was sad to watch a formerly fantastic athlete crushed under the weight of tens of millions of dollars. Teammates greeted him in the dugout with ice chips and a massage. A trainer suggested that maybe plyometrics would help him increase his core strength.

In the other dugout, Shohei Ohtani must have sympathized. Multiple times this year, the Dodgers’ designated hitter has been attacked by bags of cash as he has struggled to make it to first base. “I can only run so fast,” said Ohtani after recently slowing down to allow Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman and bag of donuts impersonator, Josh Naylor, to roll to first base ahead of him. Naylor is so out of shape and was so far away from first base that an elderly woman made it to the concessions stand, purchased a bag of peanuts, pondered the dental issues of a box of Red Vines versus a Milky Way bar, settled on a Kit Kat instead, went to the ladies room, asked three attendants for help finding her seat on the way back, and finally found her seat in the middle of the aisle… before Naylor finally made it to the bag. Though she missed him stepping on the base, she could plainly see a mountain of hundred-dollar bills pummelling Ohtani with a series of left jabs and right hooks.

“That poor man”– Anonymous Mets fan.

Bloodied and dazed, Ohtani jogged back to his dugout where his only job for most of this year and all of last year has been to sit while waiting to hit. The speed he showed going to the dugout nearly brought tears to my eyes as it was the speed of the guy who you just let walk in front of your car at the store, did the pretend one-two jog hop, and then continued to walk as fast as I did back to my seat at the Celine Dion concert.

And it’s not just on routine outs at first. The bags of cash are now attacking him on double-play balls. Just today, Ohtani hit a ball to the infield against the Brewers. Milwaukee got the out at second base before Brewer second baseman, Joey Ortiz, bailed Ohtani out by throwing the ball into the stands. Had he rolled the ball to first, or put it in a wheelbarrow and walked it over, Ohtani and his many millions would have been out by a mile.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is still getting playing time despite being hit around the shoulders by several expensive necklaces and a brick of cash last week that caused a concussion. Not only did his confusion cause him to needlessly challenge multiple umpires, it also caused him to fail to run to first on what would have been a close play against the Atlanta Braves. Even Braves coach, Eddie Perez noticed something was wrong and pointed to his own head to show Chisholm where a $50 bill had landed on Chisholm’s temple and was preparing to bite him.

Seriously, what in the hell is going on here? Why are managers and front office folks allowing this to happen? Here would be my dad’s answer, “Today’s players have gone soft. They don’t try hard. They don’t have to try with all of the money they’re getting.” Dad did indeed say that…in 1985 (Mike Schmidt was the highest paid player in the game that year with a salary of $2.13 million according to baseballnexus.com. Roughly tied for 40th on that list were future hall-of-famers George Brett, Wade Boggs, Ted Simmons, and Robin Yount). I don’t remember any of those guys dogging it to first.

Dad was occasionally right then, but usually a player was slow getting to first because he was busy slamming some instrument into the ground in frustration. Dogging it and jogging to first was not tolerated and would result in a kangaroo court fine by fellow players. Ohtani is a great hitter, no doubt. He is also making gobs of money and hasn’t played the outfield once since the Dodgers signed him. He only recently started pitching again. That means he’s been asked to hit…and to run like hell to first base when he makes contact. Maybe, he’s injured. But, he doesn’t look injured when he thinks he has a chance at a double. Last year, he won the Most Valuable Player award while stealing 59 bases. This year, he has 13, is hitting .279 and has a batting average on balls in play of .303. That’s good for 67th in Major League Baseball, according to the fine folks at Fan Graphs. I don’t know if the BABIP would be much higher, but the on-base percentage on balls in play would be. And, the Dodgers certainly aren’t paying him $700 million to be 67th at anything. Does the fact $680 million of it is deferred until later upsetting him? Is The $25.8 million he is making insufficient? These are questions that only he can answer. I used to think he wasn’t the kind of guy to let money affect his performance. But, he certainly doesn’t always look like a guy who is worried about his future or his team.

The management is not helping, not only with the exorbitant salaries, but also with allowing offending players to still in the lineup. With Ohtani leading the league in several offensive categories, you can see why. But, effort like this hurts a club. Tommy Edman recently did the exact thing on a “routine” ball to the infield. Edman’s fast. Why not run it out and put pressure on the fielder to make the play? As an infielder, Edman knows how much pressure is added when a runner is quick.

Ohtani has no known leg or groin injury (Google Artificial Intelligence attempted to blame his shoulder injury from last year). So, it must be a matter of effort. Until managers and general managers start holding players accountable, we are going to see more of this. And, slowly, more fans will start to move elsewhere to sports where the players try every play. Dave Roberts and Aaron Boone have so far done nothing. I guess it’s up to broadcasters and media outlets like this one. The announcers are starting to notice. Dodgers announcers are starting to say things like, “Ohtani was not exactly running hard down the line.” And Michael Kay called Chisholm Jr.’s effort on July 18, “jogging.” Kay was being kind.

The athletes now are in better shape than ever and should be in a position to put more stress on the defense than ever before. But, they are not and if they don’t try their best, people pretty soon are not going to want to watch them or root for them. Look at how Dodger fans still treat Manny Machado after his famous quote in the Athletic from 2018:

“I’m not the type of player that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle,’ and run down the line and slide to first base and … you know, whatever can happen. That’s just not my personality, that’s not my cup of tea, that’s not who I am” –Manny Machado.

Machado’s cup of tea hurts the team, the game and the player. Unfortunately, great players get away with lack of effort because of what they might do when the team really needs them, or when they decide to focus. It’s not new, but it is certainly becoming more frequent amongst the stars who are being counted on to lead teams.

The should consider the words of a legend who had it right many years ago when he talked about why he played so hard every game.

 “There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time.  I owe him my best” —Joe DiMaggio

Let’s get moving, boys.