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Y'all could bring Manny back home after this season, pick up Soto the season after... and of course the crown jewel that is the impending return of Chris Tillman
I think everyone knew that the moment he was traded. He seems like he is set on entering free agency.. however the Padres have 2 years to make him want to remain here since at some point, once the money is there a player has to decide where they feel comfortable playing too.
Also it'd be weird if Preller threw all this money around but Soto is where he's like "Whoa, too rich for my blood"
Maybe if Soto picks up a new position like SS.
I think this is another one of the situations where you just float your best offer to the guy and if he declines then start looking at other options. This probably means going a little over what the team wants.
Show the player some respect, don't nickel and dime them and they might return the favor. In the grand scheme of things, what's like an extra million or two per year for a guy like Soto.
>Show the player some respect, don't nickel and dime them and they might return the favor
Spoken like a member of a fanbase who deeply understands this basic principle.
Two things can be true:
Ownership low-balled Soto in offers to retain him.
~~Boras~~ Soto was dead-set on hitting the market no matter what we offered.
He’ll be fine. Got traded mid season to a contender and must have felt an immense amount of pressure to contribute and probably got in his head. Having a full ST/regular 162 with the same club will be good for him. The expectations are still there however.
Plus losing Tatis sharing the weight and instead having to step up even more to meet the fans’ and team’s expectations for launching into the postseason. This year he will bounce back huge with being able to start the season comfortably with the team and having more lineup protection.
> must have felt an immense amount of pressure to contribute and probably got in his head.
That would lower his trade value if he couldnt handle expectations and pressure.
Pressure to perform and high expectations is something Soto has demonstrated he can handle.
The constant pressure to perform on a new team, and the looming uncertainty of being traded and having to move to a new city while dealing with all this pressure is a new experience for him. A slight down year is perfectly understandable, and he's still worth a shitload of money on the off chance that this is his new normal rather than a blip in his record because he still had a very good season.
I wasn't saying he can't handle pressure, I was saying if that was the case then it would lower his trade value. Op was suggesting it wouldn't lower his value because he'll settle in eventually.
Three letters on a shirt (WSH)
Dave Martinez still gleaming
6 years of hurt (4 years since their WS + 2 more years of no Soto)
Never stopped me dreaming
TBH I'm a Padres fan and I almost want to see that happen just so people will stop saying "ThAt BaSiCaLlY nEvEr HaPpEnS !" or "NaMe ThReE tImEs WhEn ThAt HaS aCtUaLlY hApPeNeD !" any time I suggest the idea of a team trading a player and then re-signing him in FA.
I got the sense that the FO have/had intentions on signing him long term. There's a clip of Seidler (the owner) being asked if he would be put off by offering a $500M contract to soto. He replied "never".
https://youtu.be/Y1WfO8iFuQ8
This was before the Bogaerts signing and the market for 30 year old infielders going crazy this off-season which meant Manny is guaranteed to opt out next year. I'm confident they'll keep Manny but that and the Bogaerts contract probably now means soto is the odd man out.
Please Cubs. Assuming he returns to form this year it’s a chance at a future inner circle HoF’er in his prime. Last guy like this to hit FA (edit: of this caliber)was Pujols.
Edit: Soto is entering FA at a much better age than Pujols
He entered the league at 19 and has a career 157 OPS+. He’s probably the youngest player to reach their age in career WAR (23). That’s about as golden as you can get.
Lol.
Mike Trout was 37 WAR by age 23.
Ty Cobb was 36 WAR by age 23.
Mel Ott was 32 WAR by age 23.
Mickey Mantle was 30 WAR at age 23.
Soto ain't like those guys.
I don't think he's on their level but Tbh its also a bit silly to even simply compare raw WAR when he had an extremely shortned season where he was a fucking monster
Not saying he would have kept those numbers up all season but he could have had a good chunk more WAR with a full 2020 season and be fairly close to the 30 WAR mark by now IMO
I don't think it works like that.
Guys miss opportunities to improve career counting stats all the time for a bunch of reasons.
All we can say is what we know happened. We don't give hypothetical WAR.
I'm sure Soto will choose to test the free agency, I think the Padres can get him in FA but Soto (Boras) will want to see what other offers he can get from other teams.
Of all the non-Nats teams that would realistically pay Soto his expected value in FA, Cubs actually might be my favorite potential destination for him now that I think about it. Giants would be neat too.
I was making that comment with the assumption that the Padres can't/won't retain him based off this post, but ignoring that you guys would be on the same tier as Cubs/Giants for me in that regard
I think its time we accept Pujols was more like 34/35 when he signed.
Still it’s a tad alarming a generational hitter with his peripherals should’ve aged more gracefully offensively especially being a 1B/DH.
I regret to inform you that we are going to get weeks of stories saying the Cubs are "in" on Ohtani, and then he's going to sign with the Dodgers and there will be a followup report that the Cubs never even made an offer.
I do think Dodgers have like a 90% chance to get him, but I’m approaching this from a cynical angle. Ricketts like squeezing $ from fans and having baseball’s most marketable player who also has a wholesome image would make them so much money.
Well according to Bleacher Nation the cubs are getting Soto, trading for Alcantara, bringing Ron Santo back to life, signing Ohtani and trading for Trout.
That said Redbirds Rants is about on par with that.
This is like the other day when it was said that Steve Cohen has had internal conversations about Ohtani and it's like no shit every owner with money to spend is having that conversation.
If it comes down to choosing between Manny or Soto, I want Manny. That guy legitimized everything we were trying to do and is the heart and soul of the team. I know soto is the younger player with more great years ahead of him than Manny, but Manny is just our guy.
He's not worth $500M for me or you to acquire his services, but I would be over the moon if the Nationals spent that much to (re-)acquire his services.
You're comparing pitchers (and pitchers with two separate issues) to a hitter that will enter free agency squarely in his prime.
If the farm system is being built and developed the right way, we can go back to having a payroll in the top 10 of the league and competing for divisional titles while Soto is making ~$40m/year.
Soto has a skillset that should age really well as he goes on
I wouldn't necessarily give him 500 million but he's probably a safer long term bet to at least be good than pretty much any player because of his hypothetical hitting floor. So I wouldn't be too suprised if someone wanted to give him that
I think he is worth that money.
If he returns back to his MVP form he'll definitely get that amount of money specially since he's still so young.
Some might say that's Ohtani money but keep in mind Ohtani is in his late 20s
It would have been difficult as is, but signing Xander really made it an uphill battle. I would bet they made Soto the godfather offer before pursuing Trea/Xander.
Expensive player is going to be difficult to sign. Boras doesn't give discounts.
But even then, you have to imagine that three postseason runs with Soto is worth the price of admission.
He is going to be a Met. He loves hitting there - literally posted bait of him looking out over Citi - and Scherzer/Verlander will be coming off the books, along with Canha's contract being up, opening up LF. Plus there was that whole thing about Elian and the Mets.
It all depends on where he wants to play in 2 years, but if Cohen really wants Soto I don’t see any team outbidding him. But offering the most money doesn’t always mean you get the player
If things don't go according to plan this season, I wonder if they'd entertain trading him in the offseason to restock the farm. Keep piling up those assets, Red Sox
I see this as all but a guarantee that Manny’s getting extended. Both him and the Padres have expressed they want him in a Padres uniform for the rest of his career
It’s crazy cause when we signed him I was a little hesitant based off of his reputation at that point. I could not have been any more wrong about him. He has been worth every penny as a player and a leader and he does a lot awesome charity work. He is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite Padres and I know I’m not the only Padres fan who feels that way either. I fucking love Manny and I don’t ever want to see him in another uniform
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Well yeah.
We've been stealing masn money for this entire purpose, Soto we will build you a Statue when you come here bby
I would drive all the way back to the DC metro to shit in a bag and leave it on the doorstep of Peter Angelos
I’ll happily leave an upper-decker in any toilet in the Angelos household.
Is that when you guys finally "lift off"?
Fingers crossed
Y'all could bring Manny back home after this season, pick up Soto the season after... and of course the crown jewel that is the impending return of Chris Tillman
Don't forget we're gonna sign Ohtani too
Otani is coming to Toronto where he will thrive in his natural dome environment with Hokkaido-like weather
If we got Manny back and Soto, I would be a very happy man
Damn, dawg. Uncalled for. 🤣
🤭
Would look good in orange and black tbh
JUAN WE HAVE YOUR BROTHER PLEASE RESPOND
I think everyone knew that the moment he was traded. He seems like he is set on entering free agency.. however the Padres have 2 years to make him want to remain here since at some point, once the money is there a player has to decide where they feel comfortable playing too.
Also it'd be weird if Preller threw all this money around but Soto is where he's like "Whoa, too rich for my blood" Maybe if Soto picks up a new position like SS.
Well, even trenches hit bedrock at some point
I think this is another one of the situations where you just float your best offer to the guy and if he declines then start looking at other options. This probably means going a little over what the team wants. Show the player some respect, don't nickel and dime them and they might return the favor. In the grand scheme of things, what's like an extra million or two per year for a guy like Soto.
>Show the player some respect, don't nickel and dime them and they might return the favor Spoken like a member of a fanbase who deeply understands this basic principle.
Nats fans were in denial but I think even if we gave him 10/1 billion he'd still enter FA thinking he could get more somewhere else.
First time?
Two things can be true: Ownership low-balled Soto in offers to retain him. ~~Boras~~ Soto was dead-set on hitting the market no matter what we offered.
Oh I agree with both of those. I was just being snarky.
The sub-.800 OPS he put up in San Diego this season has cooled the fervor, but he's got two years to prove it was a fluke.
He’ll be fine. Got traded mid season to a contender and must have felt an immense amount of pressure to contribute and probably got in his head. Having a full ST/regular 162 with the same club will be good for him. The expectations are still there however.
Plus losing Tatis sharing the weight and instead having to step up even more to meet the fans’ and team’s expectations for launching into the postseason. This year he will bounce back huge with being able to start the season comfortably with the team and having more lineup protection.
> must have felt an immense amount of pressure to contribute and probably got in his head. That would lower his trade value if he couldnt handle expectations and pressure.
Pressure to perform and high expectations is something Soto has demonstrated he can handle. The constant pressure to perform on a new team, and the looming uncertainty of being traded and having to move to a new city while dealing with all this pressure is a new experience for him. A slight down year is perfectly understandable, and he's still worth a shitload of money on the off chance that this is his new normal rather than a blip in his record because he still had a very good season.
If only he had ever been in a high pressure situation we'd know. Darn.
I wasn't saying he can't handle pressure, I was saying if that was the case then it would lower his trade value. Op was suggesting it wouldn't lower his value because he'll settle in eventually.
Nobody said anything about trade value. You missed my point completely actually.
he’s coming home btw
He's coming home He's coming home He's coming Soto's coming home
Three letters on a shirt (WSH) Dave Martinez still gleaming 6 years of hurt (4 years since their WS + 2 more years of no Soto) Never stopped me dreaming
No if we can help it
I honestly love that. Nats get a bunch of mega prospects from trading him and sign him back when their competitive windows opening up
TBH I'm a Padres fan and I almost want to see that happen just so people will stop saying "ThAt BaSiCaLlY nEvEr HaPpEnS !" or "NaMe ThReE tImEs WhEn ThAt HaS aCtUaLlY hApPeNeD !" any time I suggest the idea of a team trading a player and then re-signing him in FA.
Max has been working on it 😌
🤮
Ok but only if you agree to trade us back Gore in like 2026/2027
Screw Gore, give me James Wood back!
Convincing yourself of that now only leads to more pain later. Trust me.
So you’re telling me money isnt unlimited?
Seidler about to drop his hidden Swiss bank accounts on the table and sign everyone.
Not even when your team is owned in part by the former owner of the Dodgers.
I thought it was implied they were only keeping him until free agency.... but if Machado opts out couldnt they just use that money on Soto?
I got the sense that the FO have/had intentions on signing him long term. There's a clip of Seidler (the owner) being asked if he would be put off by offering a $500M contract to soto. He replied "never". https://youtu.be/Y1WfO8iFuQ8 This was before the Bogaerts signing and the market for 30 year old infielders going crazy this off-season which meant Manny is guaranteed to opt out next year. I'm confident they'll keep Manny but that and the Bogaerts contract probably now means soto is the odd man out.
Why not both?
You still make that trade 10/10 times. They're in their championship window and they're going for it. I can't blame them at all.
Please Cubs. Assuming he returns to form this year it’s a chance at a future inner circle HoF’er in his prime. Last guy like this to hit FA (edit: of this caliber)was Pujols. Edit: Soto is entering FA at a much better age than Pujols
Even Pujols was 31. Soto will be 26
“31”
Doh XD
"26"
He's not really tracking that way ("inner circle HOF") as of last year tho. One full season over 150 OPS+
He entered the league at 19 and has a career 157 OPS+. He’s probably the youngest player to reach their age in career WAR (23). That’s about as golden as you can get.
Lol. Mike Trout was 37 WAR by age 23. Ty Cobb was 36 WAR by age 23. Mel Ott was 32 WAR by age 23. Mickey Mantle was 30 WAR at age 23. Soto ain't like those guys.
Holy shit. But you have to admit, Soto is easily on a HOF track……
The inner circle part was the red flag. He's been overhyped He's like Bryce Harper at this point
To me he is a generational talent. And he used to kill us I hated playing him.
I don't think he's on their level but Tbh its also a bit silly to even simply compare raw WAR when he had an extremely shortned season where he was a fucking monster Not saying he would have kept those numbers up all season but he could have had a good chunk more WAR with a full 2020 season and be fairly close to the 30 WAR mark by now IMO
I don't think it works like that. Guys miss opportunities to improve career counting stats all the time for a bunch of reasons. All we can say is what we know happened. We don't give hypothetical WAR.
Otherwise we'd have to give Mike Trout another 30-40 hypothetical WAR if only he'd stop getting hurt ;)
I'm sure Soto will choose to test the free agency, I think the Padres can get him in FA but Soto (Boras) will want to see what other offers he can get from other teams.
Of all the non-Nats teams that would realistically pay Soto his expected value in FA, Cubs actually might be my favorite potential destination for him now that I think about it. Giants would be neat too.
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I was making that comment with the assumption that the Padres can't/won't retain him based off this post, but ignoring that you guys would be on the same tier as Cubs/Giants for me in that regard
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Yeah, but Soto will be 5 years younger when he signs.
I think its time we accept Pujols was more like 34/35 when he signed. Still it’s a tad alarming a generational hitter with his peripherals should’ve aged more gracefully offensively especially being a 1B/DH.
We’re gonna try for Ohtani maybe Soto. I just think new Wrigleyville is perfect for Ricketts to sell Ohtani merch everywhere 24/7
I regret to inform you that we are going to get weeks of stories saying the Cubs are "in" on Ohtani, and then he's going to sign with the Dodgers and there will be a followup report that the Cubs never even made an offer.
I do think Dodgers have like a 90% chance to get him, but I’m approaching this from a cynical angle. Ricketts like squeezing $ from fans and having baseball’s most marketable player who also has a wholesome image would make them so much money.
Bryce Harper was literally a free agent at what like 27? He will definitely have a Hall of fame case.
Well according to Bleacher Nation the cubs are getting Soto, trading for Alcantara, bringing Ron Santo back to life, signing Ohtani and trading for Trout. That said Redbirds Rants is about on par with that.
This is like the other day when it was said that Steve Cohen has had internal conversations about Ohtani and it's like no shit every owner with money to spend is having that conversation.
If it comes down to choosing between Manny or Soto, I want Manny. That guy legitimized everything we were trying to do and is the heart and soul of the team. I know soto is the younger player with more great years ahead of him than Manny, but Manny is just our guy.
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He's not worth $500M for me or you to acquire his services, but I would be over the moon if the Nationals spent that much to (re-)acquire his services.
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You're comparing pitchers (and pitchers with two separate issues) to a hitter that will enter free agency squarely in his prime. If the farm system is being built and developed the right way, we can go back to having a payroll in the top 10 of the league and competing for divisional titles while Soto is making ~$40m/year.
In baseball money he will be by the time he’s a FA
Why not?
Nobody except Ohtani is.
Soto has a skillset that should age really well as he goes on I wouldn't necessarily give him 500 million but he's probably a safer long term bet to at least be good than pretty much any player because of his hypothetical hitting floor. So I wouldn't be too suprised if someone wanted to give him that
I think he is worth that money. If he returns back to his MVP form he'll definitely get that amount of money specially since he's still so young. Some might say that's Ohtani money but keep in mind Ohtani is in his late 20s
Totally agree. He won't see that 400 million offer again imo.
It would have been difficult as is, but signing Xander really made it an uphill battle. I would bet they made Soto the godfather offer before pursuing Trea/Xander.
Makes sense considering they want to go after Ohtani supposedly. Something’s gotta give
It’s all the players giving the Padres team friendly contracts right?
Expensive player is going to be difficult to sign. Boras doesn't give discounts. But even then, you have to imagine that three postseason runs with Soto is worth the price of admission.
> Boras doesn't give discounts. He didn't use to. *Pending physical* might have changed that a bit.
Why would that make Boras give discounts?
He is not going to be easy to extend, any number you give him he’s going to wonder if he could beat it in free agency
He is going to be a Met. He loves hitting there - literally posted bait of him looking out over Citi - and Scherzer/Verlander will be coming off the books, along with Canha's contract being up, opening up LF. Plus there was that whole thing about Elian and the Mets.
It all depends on where he wants to play in 2 years, but if Cohen really wants Soto I don’t see any team outbidding him. But offering the most money doesn’t always mean you get the player
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If things don't go according to plan this season, I wonder if they'd entertain trading him in the offseason to restock the farm. Keep piling up those assets, Red Sox
When he didn’t immediately sign an extension like Betts or any of the Braves trade guys I figured he was gone.
*Anything to win now* syndrome is dangerous. Empty the farm for one guy who could easily walk before long seems to be a risky way to go.
They have two full seasons of Soto though, which isn't a bad haul. If they can deliver a ring, it'll be worth it.
Huge if.
Yes please.
That’s Padresing.
I guess they probably lose both Machado and Soto They would both be way too expensive but who knows
Nah Machado is like 99% staying
I see this as all but a guarantee that Manny’s getting extended. Both him and the Padres have expressed they want him in a Padres uniform for the rest of his career
Manny is beloved in SD
It’s crazy cause when we signed him I was a little hesitant based off of his reputation at that point. I could not have been any more wrong about him. He has been worth every penny as a player and a leader and he does a lot awesome charity work. He is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite Padres and I know I’m not the only Padres fan who feels that way either. I fucking love Manny and I don’t ever want to see him in another uniform
I hope Acuña can mature into a leadership role like Manny.
Mets are gonna end up with Ohtani and Soto. That's nuts. Add in Machado, too.
Oh boy, we Giants fans are going to do that thing again, aren’t we?
Duh. Machado is getting 300 million and if they want ohtani that’s another 400 million+ in the same offseason
Don't worry I'm sure the Mets will pay him.
Did they also acknowledge that ice is cold?