Padres Won't Rush Into Juan Soto Trade, Want to Maximize Value
The big storyline around the Padres at the Winter Meetings is what the team will do with star outfielder Juan Soto. San Diego has been engaged with multiple teams on the Soto front, and we could see a trade coming down the pipeline very soon.
Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said that the team wants to get the most value in a potential Soto trade. They aren't going to just make a move to make a move and will be careful in their negotiations.
"It's really just about value," Preller said. "I think that there's a lot of different ways that you can do it. We talk about our need for some starting pitching, but we're not gonna take lesser deals just to fill a need. In any of the scenarios."
Soto is still one of the elite players in the game today and the Padres understand that they control the market on him. They paid a heavy price to land him years ago, and they won't just let him go for nothing.
But they will need to make a deal at some point since he is entering the final year of his contract. The Padres and Soto are unlikely to come to terms on a long-term agreement, which has sparked the trade talks to begin with.
The New York Yankees are the most common team talked about within the Soto sweepstakes, but reports have said that talks stalled of late. Their division rival, the Toronto Blue Jays have emerged as serious suitors as well, giving the Padres a good old-fashioned bidding war.
The asking price for Soto is very high, and rightfully so. At some point a team will either meet the price, or the Padres will ease up and move him to the highest bidder.
