Could fans booing Aaron Judge cause Juan Soto to leave Yankees?

New York Yankees television play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay suggested during Monday's edition of his "The Michael Kay Show" that Yankees fans booing team captain Aaron Judge could cause All-Star outfielder Juan Soto to leave the club as a free agent following the season. 

"You’re trying to seduce Juan Soto to stay," Kay explained, according to Bridget Hyland of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "And then Juan Soto sees his own fan base turning on the Yankee captain who broke the American League home run record two years ago. Is he not trying? If he wasn’t trying, you should boo him out of the ballpark. What are they doing? There’s nobody that’s immune to booing anymore." 

Soto remains in the early days of a love affair with Yankees fans after he joined the storied club from the San Diego Padres via a December trade. However, there's no sign he'll ink an extension with the Yankees before he reaches free agency this coming fall, and it's believed his camp expects a "bidding war" for his services that will involve at least the Bronx Bombers and the big-spending New York Mets.

The Yankees reportedly will make holding onto Soto their "top priority" of the next MLB offseason. 

Somewhat ironically, it was said back in the fall of 2022 that a "toxic" fan culture and an alleged "souring relationship between the Yankees and their fans" could cause Judge to leave the only MLB team he'd known shortly after he set an AL single-season record of 62 home runs. He ultimately signed a nine-year, $360M contract to return to the Yankees and become the 16th captain in the history of the franchise.

"What are you doing booing Aaron Judge? I understand he’s played horribly," Kay said on Monday. "I get it. He’s the captain of the team. He’s represented the team in the best way. I’m not saying you don’t have the right. You definitely have the right. But to what end?"

To be fair, Judge acknowledged after he heard boos from during this past Saturday's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays that he'd "probably do the same thing in their situation." He began Tuesday batting .174 with three home runs, 11 RBI and a .645 OPS across 23 games this season.