For weeks now, Philadelphia Phillies fans had been hoping that the front office had been operating in the shadows and were somehow involved in the chase for the offseason's biggest free agent target, Juan Soto. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is known to run a tight ship, with few leaks, if any, seeping out of the inner sanctum.
In a crushing blow, although not all that surprising, news broke on Wednesday morning that the Phillies never met with Soto and never made an offer, per The Athletic's Matt Gelb.
Phillies never met with Juan Soto and are not among the teams who have made an offer to the star outfielder. More on the Soto sweepstakes in this @TheAthleticMLB story: https://t.co/xeyoXZ9yNZ
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) December 4, 2024
The Phillies' absence from the Soto updates had been growing increasingly concerning as time passed. After being considered one of six or seven teams that would be suitors to Soto at the outset of the offseason, they were never included in the list of teams known to have made an offer.
Despite the impending feeling that they weren't going to sign Soto, the news that the Phillies never even met with or made an offer to one of the most talented hitters in the history of the game still hurts.
Just a week ago, we had some hope when MLB.com's Todd Zolecki said that the Phillies were still planning on meeting with Soto.
"I've been told that, no surprise, they've communicated with Scott Boras about Juan Soto and others," Zolecki said on The Phillies Show podcast. " … They expect to meet with him at some point. I don't know when that will be."
Unfortunately, it seems that the meeting never came to pass.
Phillies can only watch as Juan Soto closes in on a decision
Now the Phillies can only watch from the outside as the other five teams involved battle it out with ever-increasing bids. The biggest concern is the chance that Soto winds up back in the NL East with the New York Mets, who are rumored to be a favorite landing spot for the four-time All-Star.
Nothing is set in stone, however, with the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays involved. Who knows how many of those teams are left now? On Tuesday, Soto's agent, Scott Boras, said that Soto has begun eliminating teams, per MLB.com. Rumored to be asking for 15 years and $700 million, the bidding for Soto has now topped the $600 million mark (subscription required), per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich.
Still only 26, Soto is a career .285 hitter with a .953 OPS. He topped those marks this past season with the Yankees, hitting .288 with a .989 OPS. He also mashed a career-high 41 home runs.
He's expected to reveal his choice during the upcoming Winter Meetings in Dallas, Texas, which run from Dec. 9-12. Wherever Soto ends up signing, Phillies fans hope it's anywhere but with the Mets ... or the Dodgers.