LOS ANGELES — Of course the Yankees and Mets need to try to bring baseball’s best hitter Juan Soto to New York after the surprise revelation that he will be made available in trade following his decision to reject the Nationals’ $440 million, 15-year offer. But guess what? An early favorite for Soto just might be the San Diego Padres, the former “small” market team that’s been full of surprises and thrills the past few years under GM A.J. Preller, a young man who knows the game and loves a gamble.
It’s not just because Preller courted and came close to signing Soto as an amateur and has the stones to pull off such a mega-deal (though that obviously doesn’t hurt), it’s because the Padres still have the young players to make a deal for Soto.
Though uber-talent Fernando Tatis Jr. may seem like the obvious guy to trade in a Soto deal, and the likely ask, the idea for the Padres would be “to pair Soto with Tatis,” according to a person familiar with their thinking.
That would still leave shortstop C.J. Abrams, pitcher MacKenzie Gore and other kids of ability the Padres could package for Soto — who rejected the offer due to its heavy backloading, an AAV below other mega-stars and likely the Nats’ uncertain future (more on that below). In doing so, he and the Nats transformed what looked like a sleepy trade market into a possible all-timer.
The Yankees have been looking for an outfielder, and of course this would be quite an upgrade over Andrew Benintendi, Trey Mancini and others. The Mets are seeking a middle-of-the-order hitter to pair with Pete Alonso, and this would be almost as big an upgrade over Josh Bell, Willson Contreras and others.
Both New York teams could also afford to go the limit in extension talks. And in the Yankees’ case, Soto would also represent dream insurance should the long-running Aaron Judge talks not pan out. Soto is seven years younger than the great Judge, and as a bonus, left-handed.
The Mets and Yankees may have the prospects to give them a shot at Soto, who after a slow start is back up to his usual All-World standards (he has a 160 OPS-plus, the same as his career mark). The question may be more about how willing they are to surrender the best of them.
The Mets’ best prospect is catcher Francisco Alvarez, who happens to play the same position is the Nats’ second-best player, Keibert Ruiz, and the Mets seem more reluctant than some others to part with their top five kids. Most of their better big leaguers are free agents after the year, leaving them in a position where they might have to consider Jeff McNeil or even Pete Alonso to get seriously in this ballgame.
The Yankees do have prospects with high ceilings, but Jasson Dominguez, Anthony Volpe and Oswald Perez are off to only solid starts (Volpe and Dominguez are doing better than Peraza). Gleyber Torres and 2022 revelation Nestor Cortes are young players with value, but seeing as how they are currently leading the majors with 62 wins, they’d surely prefer to keep those types out.
The market for Soto, that once-in-a-generation talent who’s ticketed for free agent at 25/26 years of age (the last one was Alex Rodriguez), could go beyond the usual suspects such as the Dodgers, Rangers and New York teams as we’ve seen recent surprises (who had Carlos Correa going to the Twin Cities?). But San Diego, which for years was among the great penny-pinchers, has joined the ranks of baseball’s big boys, thanks to unmatched moxie and an intense interest in winning.
When the Padres signed Eric Hosmer for $140 million, that was a shocker.
When they beat out rich teams to sign Manny Machado for $300 million, that was even more stunning.
At this point, they have to be seen as a major player in a sport where too many rivals are counting their nickels and/or playing for tomorrow.
They also show good taste. Soto is not only a supreme talent but by all accounts a supremely fine young man whose priorities are in order. Nothing against Tatis, who has excited young fans all over the country, but Soto also won’t be wasting a half season on a motorcycle. To that end, Tatis just began hitting Friday, and the Padres remain hopeful he could make a return next month.
Soto is a team-oriented young man who already has a ring who may be able to hit that $500 million mark as a free agent. But here’s his reasoning for now:
1. Though $440M represents a record, the salaries were said to be heavily backloaded, making it tantamount to the usual big Nats deferral and thus worth well less than $400M by one accounting.
2. The $29M AAV was viewed as outdated considering ex-teammate Max Scherzer got $43.3M per year, and other greats have gone well past the $30M mark in recent years.
3. No one knows who the new Nats owner will be, what direction they will take and how long it may be before they become competitive again.
Late in the negotiations, Soto heard these words from the Nats, who previously had said that he wasn’t going anywhere: “We may trade you.”
But at this point, that didn’t amount to much of a threat, not with the Nats rebuilding and Nats owners looking to get out themselves.
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July 17, 2022 at 02:28AM
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Juan Soto seems better fit for Padres than Mets, Yankees - New York Post
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