NEWSLETTER
Within a FIVE-MINUTE SPAN, multiple reports dropped all communicating more or less the same thing: the Yankees and Padres have hit a wall in their long-reported and long-active Juan Soto trade talks.
The trio of reports:
It’s not too hard to read between the lines here, particularly given the almost simultaneous news drop from three different publications. The Padres want the moon (plus salary relief), the Yankees don’t want to offer much (besides salary relief), and now they each want the world to know. That is all interesting in its own right, as Soto is a transformative player. It’s rare that the negotiating-through-the-media stuff is so transparent and concurrently-timed. Clearly the sides have dug in their heels a bit.
Interesting that last bit there in The Athletic piece, eh? Where suddenly the Blue Jays might step in to pursue Soto?
Yes, your thought there is the same as mine – does this mean they are pivoting from Shohei Ohtani because they know they’re out? It’s possible, but I don’t think we can know that for sure just yet. It is equally plausible that they’re interested in Soto as a back-up option, but now the Padres are leaking that info to try to put pressure on their division rival in New York.
(Andy Martino’s article also mentions the Padres maybe holding Soto back until after Ohtani decides, which again, just feels like them trying to apply pressure to the Yankees, rather than them believing specific teams already know they are out on Ohtani.)
That is to say, while I want to jump up and say this is clear evidence that the Blue Jays are out on Ohtani, I just can’t say that. And even if you did think that and wanted to be excited about it, you have to remember, sullenly: the Dodgers are still the favorite.
Each of Heyman and Jeff Passan today suggest that the Cubs COULD be involved at some point on Juan Soto, but they read as mostly speculative, and Jesse Rogers has been pretty clear the last two days on the radio that he just doesn’t see the Cubs getting involved on Soto. Take that all for what it’s worth, because we know reporting earlier in the offseason very much did have the Cubs interested in Soto if things didn’t pan out with Ohtani. Maybe the Cubs just really, really, really want to keep the focus on Ohtani right now.
