Phillies should lean into Juan Soto sweepstakes after saving the 'powder' at the trade deadline

Juan Soto has turned into a generational name and superstar talent in Major League Baseball. Jon Heyman of The New York Post recently handicapped the odds in the sweepstakes for 10 teams to land the generational talent in free agency this coming offseason.

He ranked the Phillies No. 6, with 30-1 odds of signing Soto, citing owner John Middleton's desire to win.

Phillies should lean into Juan Soto sweepstakes after saving the 'powder' at the trade deadline

The 25-year-old phenom has collected four All-Star selections, four Silver Sluggers and a runner-up to the NL MVP over seven major league seasons. Soto was also a major contributor in helping the Washington Nationals bring home their first World Series championship in 2019. Soto is a career .287/.423 /.537 hitter.

He was traded to the San Diego Padres at the 2022 trade deadline and played against the Phillies in the 2022 NLCS, which fans remember well how that ended for the Fightins'. With the Padres looking to shed payroll, they shipped him off to the Yankees in a blockbuster deal, where he has since thrived, per MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.

The caveat to the fairytale that is happening in the Bronx is Soto's looming free agency after the 2024 season. No extension talks have materialized till this point, and they don't look too promising this late in the season. The news from Yankees' chairman and managing general partner of Yankee Global Enterprises, Hal Steinbrenner, has left staggering doubts about the teams' ability to retain him.

The Phillies have a chance to swoop in and find a happy medium with another Scott Boras client. Juan Soto would, without a doubt, fill the outfield hole this team has been encountering as of late. The Phillies saved the "powder" in the offseason (subscription required), per Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and again at the July 30 trade deadline, which leaves plenty of powder to sign an even bigger fish in Soto.

According to Spotrac, Soto's calculated market value for an upcoming contract would be roughly 14 years, $530 million, just under $38 million per year. It goes without saying that the deal would be a massive commitment with large tax implications to the team's future payroll.

With how open the Phillies were about bringing in Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Middleton may have an easier time going all in this time around.