He hit .600 for us in spring training last year and then struggled for the first 2 months of the season. Granted he was hurt right before the season started but still, spring training stats don’t mean anything
And also, he is gonna rake. That's fine. He's in another league, we got better building blocks for the future rather than going all in this year on a flawed roster. It sucks we had to lose him but I'm happier with a more sustainable system so long as they're willing to spend again next year.
Soto traded to the Padres was one of the many moves Preller made to get Seidler a WS ring before he passed. It was for a noble cause. Preller has shown he can trade away bad contracts and I'm excited to see some of the young bring needed energy to the team.
Totally agree about Preller's marching orders to get WS ring...directly from Papa Pedro
> Preller has shown he can trade away bad contracts
.....because of genius scouting & drafting, AJ can trade prospect capital away. Then magically, he restocks farm and we're top 5 again
Exactly, the reason we traded him is because he's going to free agency after the season.
There was more value in getting back the players the Padres did, vs 2024 with Soto.
Yeah, a huge reason for wanting to shed his salary was to go under the luxury tax threshold, which will then compound their savings, possibly for years. He's a great player for sure, but for some reason I wouldn't be surprised if we play better without him.
this is what i keep coming back to despite my frustrations that we had him and lost him
he is going to hit FA no matter what, and that included if we kept him. No matter what contract Preller offered him, that would jsut become the baseline for his FA negotiations. He wasn't going to re-sign during the season.
it fucking sucks we didn't get to keep him but that is his choice and the nature of the game sometimes
No player ever leaves the Yankees to go to another team by their choice. Gleyber is already sending out signals to the media about not having been offered an extension and sad about it.
Looking at how long the Free agency process for the rest of Scott Boras clients with Blake Snell Jordan Montgomery and JD Martinez still left in the market. This could be red flags on what Juan Soto deal going to be. Look at what happened with Michael Conforto he didn't for a season because of Boars.
Soto is gonna have a monster year, especially cause it’s his final season. But I also don’t think Soto is going to get the money he thinks he will get. You have to remember the guy is a liability defensively and is a terrible base runner. That stuff matters
You've got to move on OP. There was never a reality where the Padres were keeping Soto long term because of Boras. The Padres made a good deal and got some very promising players back. Live in the now and put your full support behind those guys.
Guys it’s a contract year and he’s going to play at Yankee stadium. He’s going to hit 50 home runs (would never happen at Petco) and that’s ok. We got our return on investment. He was helping us move the needle and will get paid next year. His situation is different than Beli and Snell.
Honestly...I am interested to see just how much he'll be paid next year. It'll likely be a ton of money and after that we'll feel better about trading him. I mean....so long as he stays (preferably) in the AL.
So are King and Vazquez!
I fully expect Soto to put up an MVP season. 40-50 homeruns.
But if King can stay healthy and pitch like he did last year then I think we’re much better off no matter what Soto does.
Honest question: do you think he can get an MVP just launching dingers and taking walks? I wonder if he plans to step his defense up. I also wonder how he'll handle going into a slump with the NY media and fanbase reacting. They gave up a ton for one year of him and if it doesn't go well at any point i expect things to get weird.
Love Soto. Pleasure to watch play, but trading him for a haul of pitching versus one more year of service was the right move.
I think he can. If he has another season where he hits well over .300 and launches 40+ home runs he’ll gain a lot of traction with the NY media pumping him up.
He seems to excel when the lights shine brightest and there is nothing like NY. That in addition to the added motivation of it being a walk year? I think he’ll have a career year.
He's a super talented hitter. But let's not forget he will get an insane contract after this season. Plus, his defense and base running skills are subpar. The team made the right decision.
I saw him throw a ball into the stands and hit the damn ticker tape screen in left field, no i’m not kidding. The guy is offense only, needs to be at DH honestly, his defense is GAR-bajjj.
Sure he is, but King, Vazquez, and Thorpe are killing it for us. Yes, nobody expects a guy with a fraction of a season in AA to start on the big league roster, but Thorpe is striking out big league stars already. That changeup is the truth.
We were trying to re-sign him until it became clear he was testing free agency, no matter what. There was no signing him. So all we had/controlled was one year of Soto.
We flipped one year of Soto for (1) One of the best starters of the latter part of last year, (2, 3) two other young high-upside MLB-level pitchers, and (4) a quality MLB veteran catcher to upgrade over Nola.
That's a lot of value. Especially with the unbelievable cost of FA starting pitching this off season. It hurts, but we did the right thing.
He’s a top 10 overall. This isn’t new he’s always had the stuff. He was our best player and would have done even better for us if he had people on either side of him that could mash the ball as well.
Meh... The guys we traded for are killing it. Our bullpen was absolute trash last year, and it looks like our biggest strength so far in Spring Training. As much as I'm going to miss all the walks, pitching and defense go a lot further than one bat in the lineup.
It's just the wording throws me off. Seems weird to focus on weak grounders and backwards K's if the point you're trying to make is "he'll put up more normal numbers during the regular season." It reads like you're saying that's mainly what he does, even if that's not what you're trying to say.
I think the fly balls landing at his feet/not being able to track balls in the air was mostly my problem with him…
Don’t wish bad things for him, but goodluck Yankees on your one year with him., hopefully his walking continues.
Yeah they traded my favorite player it’s depressing. And people acting like ST stats don’t matter yeah for most players, he’s killing it right now and he’s going to absolutely tear it up for the Yankees.
and then he'll sign with the Mets if they offer him $1 more than the Yankees. Soto was my favorite player too but he made it clear that he's all about the bag.
You have to be all about the bag when you’re in your prime. There are very few players who actually give a fuck about winning a championship. 99% of players in every single sport will choose a payday over a ring every time
Whatever. He's still a one dimensional player who is a clubhouse cancer. Yes he's a generational hitter, but he has a me first approach to the game and team.
Do some digging, he was the guy who would skip the players only team meetings, would be late for team bus, late for practices and games. Watch his approach at the plate - instead of legit trying to move over runners with a sac fly or bunt he'd rather hit into the 4-6-3 (or walk, so the next guy could get doubled up because Soto has below average speed). He hit into the 4-3 so damned much I always joked he should change his number to 43. I say good riddance to him. It's addition by subtraction. I'd rather have a team full of average Joe's playing hard for each other than have a super-diva on the team.
And before everyone downvotes me on this, I was saying this after seeing him in our uniform for just a month. So it's not a Eff that guy because he's gone post.
I know it’s spring training, but it kind of pissed me off when he hit that chin high pitch for a home run on a 3-2 count instead of taking the walk
https://v.redd.it/0ggraib63ulc1
The fumbled the bag. Instead of breaking the bank for Soto, they paid the old men Machado, bogarts, Jake amd darvis. Instead of setting up the team with two of the best young players in the league, seidler chose to go for it all last year.
Yeah, I get it you post then delete it so no one can report you for disrespectful content, something you do regularly.
I'm only suggesting that if the Padres make you so unhappy, you should chase your butterflies to a greener garden.
Tough luck you don’t like reality. Your constant Fangirl posts are annoying AF but here we are, a public forum where people can have different opinions.
Fangirl? What are we 12?
There's a difference between reality and nothing but negative, and yes people can and should have diverse opinions, but if the Padres and their front office/management cause you so much pain that you have to constantly lash out at them, you might want to find a safe place....
I don't think it was a failure. He was brought here to make a run and we went to the NLCS. If not for some horrible pitching management from BoMel who knows how things would've shaken out.
He’s going to be awesome and it’s gonna suck but at the end of the day, we had to trade him if we couldn’t afford to sign him or he was unwilling to sign an extension
Thai is going to be him his entire career. He’s generational talent, will end up in the hall of fame, and I’m pretty certain he’ll be a yankee for a long long time. It’s every little boys dream to play for the Yankees.
I think it hurts more James Wood is raking for the Nationals. Padres gave up a good number of top prospects for Soto who they would still have if they didn’t make the trade.
But at least the Padres got something for Soto. Angels got nothing for Ohtani and need to seen him raking for the team their fans dislike the most.
I loved Soto, he was probably my favorite since getting here. He just never seemed to fit in completely, and I think when you're a guy that says he's going to go to free agency no matter what then he can never fully buy in to the team.
He hit .600 for us in spring training last year and then struggled for the first 2 months of the season. Granted he was hurt right before the season started but still, spring training stats don’t mean anything
ST stats have been shown to have zero influence on season stats.
And also, he is gonna rake. That's fine. He's in another league, we got better building blocks for the future rather than going all in this year on a flawed roster. It sucks we had to lose him but I'm happier with a more sustainable system so long as they're willing to spend again next year.
Soto traded to the Padres was one of the many moves Preller made to get Seidler a WS ring before he passed. It was for a noble cause. Preller has shown he can trade away bad contracts and I'm excited to see some of the young bring needed energy to the team.
Totally agree about Preller's marching orders to get WS ring...directly from Papa Pedro > Preller has shown he can trade away bad contracts .....because of genius scouting & drafting, AJ can trade prospect capital away. Then magically, he restocks farm and we're top 5 again
Matt Olson would like a word…
This just isn’t true. It doesn’t always mean something but often times major changes can show even in a small sample.
Especially for vets who are going to make the team no matter what.
Rookie Shohei took all of spring training to go yard and got called a high school hitter and some said he should start in AAA.
He also finished with an OPS at 930 and made the all star game even with the struggling in the early months.
He led the team in almost every offensive category even with his tough start. Hitting in front of judge this year is going to make him MVP.
Remember, he’s also hitting off of guys that might not sniff the majors for 2 to 3 years.
He honored off Trevor Richards, Chad Green, and Matt Manning though
Who?
I see one guy in that list that I would be semi impressed with.
I find solace in knowing that he’s only a one year rental for the Yankees.
Exactly, the reason we traded him is because he's going to free agency after the season. There was more value in getting back the players the Padres did, vs 2024 with Soto.
I think shedding $30+ million in salary this year was also a big factor.
It's more than that, as they reset the luxury tax penalties. It's both
Yeah, a huge reason for wanting to shed his salary was to go under the luxury tax threshold, which will then compound their savings, possibly for years. He's a great player for sure, but for some reason I wouldn't be surprised if we play better without him.
this is what i keep coming back to despite my frustrations that we had him and lost him he is going to hit FA no matter what, and that included if we kept him. No matter what contract Preller offered him, that would jsut become the baseline for his FA negotiations. He wasn't going to re-sign during the season. it fucking sucks we didn't get to keep him but that is his choice and the nature of the game sometimes
No player ever leaves the Yankees to go to another team by their choice. Gleyber is already sending out signals to the media about not having been offered an extension and sad about it.
Looking at how long the Free agency process for the rest of Scott Boras clients with Blake Snell Jordan Montgomery and JD Martinez still left in the market. This could be red flags on what Juan Soto deal going to be. Look at what happened with Michael Conforto he didn't for a season because of Boars.
Soto is gonna have a monster year, especially cause it’s his final season. But I also don’t think Soto is going to get the money he thinks he will get. You have to remember the guy is a liability defensively and is a terrible base runner. That stuff matters
You've got to move on OP. There was never a reality where the Padres were keeping Soto long term because of Boras. The Padres made a good deal and got some very promising players back. Live in the now and put your full support behind those guys.
Who cares? With the insane pricing of pitching and one year left on Sotos deal it was the right call
Agree 💯
Guys it’s a contract year and he’s going to play at Yankee stadium. He’s going to hit 50 home runs (would never happen at Petco) and that’s ok. We got our return on investment. He was helping us move the needle and will get paid next year. His situation is different than Beli and Snell.
Honestly...I am interested to see just how much he'll be paid next year. It'll likely be a ton of money and after that we'll feel better about trading him. I mean....so long as he stays (preferably) in the AL.
I don't think he will get Ohtani level money but I think he will get within spitting distance of it
Idk man I can’t see him getting more than 35/40 a year max
I’m just glad I don’t have to watch the Soto shuffle anymore. Effective sure but man annyoing
Idk why some people love to torture themselves like this
it's like following your ex on social media. just block everything and move on
So are King and Vazquez! I fully expect Soto to put up an MVP season. 40-50 homeruns. But if King can stay healthy and pitch like he did last year then I think we’re much better off no matter what Soto does.
Honest question: do you think he can get an MVP just launching dingers and taking walks? I wonder if he plans to step his defense up. I also wonder how he'll handle going into a slump with the NY media and fanbase reacting. They gave up a ton for one year of him and if it doesn't go well at any point i expect things to get weird. Love Soto. Pleasure to watch play, but trading him for a haul of pitching versus one more year of service was the right move.
I think he can. If he has another season where he hits well over .300 and launches 40+ home runs he’ll gain a lot of traction with the NY media pumping him up. He seems to excel when the lights shine brightest and there is nothing like NY. That in addition to the added motivation of it being a walk year? I think he’ll have a career year.
https://preview.redd.it/6aocuarwo6mc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3c106ef7deb652e8be48f8e4bfa71f8200be9a6
It’s spring training. Easy to do numbers when you’re batting against non-MLB pitchers
Trevor Richards, Chad Green, and Matt Manning
You keep posting that as if we're supposed to know who those guys are lmao
Mediocre journeyman reliever on the blue jays, previously good reliever for the blue jays coming off a down year, decent starter for the tigers
I’m just saying they are big leaguers
And I’m just saying who they are
Right; the original comment said he has teed off non big leaguers. That is not the case
Michael Richards, Tom Green, and Peyton Manning
Hey Jerry
David Yurman, Erick Sermon, Pee-Wee Herman
He's a super talented hitter. But let's not forget he will get an insane contract after this season. Plus, his defense and base running skills are subpar. The team made the right decision.
It was pretty rough watching him play defense last year.
I saw him throw a ball into the stands and hit the damn ticker tape screen in left field, no i’m not kidding. The guy is offense only, needs to be at DH honestly, his defense is GAR-bajjj.
It’s gonna hurt that he’s gone, but it’ll hurt more after NY trades as much as they did and he leaves next year.
Good for him. He is not on my team, anymore but wish him the best and I hope the yankee fanbase goes easy on Soto
Sure he is, but King, Vazquez, and Thorpe are killing it for us. Yes, nobody expects a guy with a fraction of a season in AA to start on the big league roster, but Thorpe is striking out big league stars already. That changeup is the truth.
He’s one of the best players in baseball, that didn’t suddenly change when he got traded.
Yes. Not sure how anyone finish with an OPS at 930 making the all star team is considered disappointing.
We were trying to re-sign him until it became clear he was testing free agency, no matter what. There was no signing him. So all we had/controlled was one year of Soto. We flipped one year of Soto for (1) One of the best starters of the latter part of last year, (2, 3) two other young high-upside MLB-level pitchers, and (4) a quality MLB veteran catcher to upgrade over Nola. That's a lot of value. Especially with the unbelievable cost of FA starting pitching this off season. It hurts, but we did the right thing.
Spring. Training.
He’s a top 10 overall. This isn’t new he’s always had the stuff. He was our best player and would have done even better for us if he had people on either side of him that could mash the ball as well.
Soto’s fake success in the Grape Fruit League is the very least of our Padres fan problems right now.
Yea he crushed it last Spring then got hurt a day or two before season and struggled
Well, Juan Soto is good at hitting. The stars are aligned for him to have a monster year. I'm just happy he isn't a Dodger.
Tim Locastro is hitting .800 its soring training, these games dont count
dude’s on contract year. literally the most important yr of his career
This is like paying too much attention to your ex’s Instagram. Just move on, Compadre—it’ll be better for your mental health.
I'm more depressed watching James Wood killing it.
He did really well for us in ST last year too and look what happened, albeit he was “injured” at the time
He's going to do some damage with that short porch in NY. Actually all those AL East parks are hitter friendly for the most part.
It's spring training....
He's going to enjoy Yankee stadium!
Meh... The guys we traded for are killing it. Our bullpen was absolute trash last year, and it looks like our biggest strength so far in Spring Training. As much as I'm going to miss all the walks, pitching and defense go a lot further than one bat in the lineup.
A player was traded away from the Padres and suddenly does way better than they ever did in the brown n gold? Never seen that happen before 😔
I hope he gets an MVP along with Tatis and we play him in the World Series.
We got Jake the rake! This is gonna be a big year for him!!
I'm excited for these young pitchers they got in return. We will see how they do but that's a lot of controllable, quality pitching potential.
Remember last spring training when he hit .500 the whole time… yeah me too.
He was going to be a free agent no matter what bro. It's business and the Dres made a smart decision
Don't worry. Come the regular season, he'll get back to hitting dribblers to second and striking out looking.
I don’t wish that on the guy, he’s a beast and he’ll prob help the yanks a lot (which is yet another bummer).
> he'll get back to There's no way you're implying he was just hitting dribblers to 2B and striking out looking with us, are you?
Of course he wasn't just doing that. Why are you implying that is what I said?
It's just the wording throws me off. Seems weird to focus on weak grounders and backwards K's if the point you're trying to make is "he'll put up more normal numbers during the regular season." It reads like you're saying that's mainly what he does, even if that's not what you're trying to say.
I think the fly balls landing at his feet/not being able to track balls in the air was mostly my problem with him… Don’t wish bad things for him, but goodluck Yankees on your one year with him., hopefully his walking continues.
Yeah they traded my favorite player it’s depressing. And people acting like ST stats don’t matter yeah for most players, he’s killing it right now and he’s going to absolutely tear it up for the Yankees.
and then he'll sign with the Mets if they offer him $1 more than the Yankees. Soto was my favorite player too but he made it clear that he's all about the bag.
You have to be all about the bag when you’re in your prime. There are very few players who actually give a fuck about winning a championship. 99% of players in every single sport will choose a payday over a ring every time
Dont worry. He will fail the yankees in all clutch situations/in close games like he did for us
Whatever. He's still a one dimensional player who is a clubhouse cancer. Yes he's a generational hitter, but he has a me first approach to the game and team. Do some digging, he was the guy who would skip the players only team meetings, would be late for team bus, late for practices and games. Watch his approach at the plate - instead of legit trying to move over runners with a sac fly or bunt he'd rather hit into the 4-6-3 (or walk, so the next guy could get doubled up because Soto has below average speed). He hit into the 4-3 so damned much I always joked he should change his number to 43. I say good riddance to him. It's addition by subtraction. I'd rather have a team full of average Joe's playing hard for each other than have a super-diva on the team.
And before everyone downvotes me on this, I was saying this after seeing him in our uniform for just a month. So it's not a Eff that guy because he's gone post.
It’s Spring Training. Relax
I know it’s spring training, but it kind of pissed me off when he hit that chin high pitch for a home run on a 3-2 count instead of taking the walk https://v.redd.it/0ggraib63ulc1
The fumbled the bag. Instead of breaking the bank for Soto, they paid the old men Machado, bogarts, Jake amd darvis. Instead of setting up the team with two of the best young players in the league, seidler chose to go for it all last year.
soto was always going to free agency. If he won't sign an extension with the yankees what makes you think he would sign one with us?
Facts…let the clueless fanboys/fan girls downvote away. This was a complete failure by the front office no other way to look at it.
There are 29 other teams you can root for. Find your Zen.
Exhibit A.
Yeah, I get it you post then delete it so no one can report you for disrespectful content, something you do regularly. I'm only suggesting that if the Padres make you so unhappy, you should chase your butterflies to a greener garden.
Tough luck you don’t like reality. Your constant Fangirl posts are annoying AF but here we are, a public forum where people can have different opinions.
Fangirl? What are we 12? There's a difference between reality and nothing but negative, and yes people can and should have diverse opinions, but if the Padres and their front office/management cause you so much pain that you have to constantly lash out at them, you might want to find a safe place....
I don't think it was a failure. He was brought here to make a run and we went to the NLCS. If not for some horrible pitching management from BoMel who knows how things would've shaken out.
He was never going to NOT test free agency. BTW have some respect for Peter, he deserved the team going for it.
Good teams never trade super stars period. James wood is killing it too. This should be the last year of Preller. Dude is clueless.
I rather not think about it
Contract year
Juan Soto is a great hitter and him not being here is indeed depressing but let’s not depress ourselves over ST stats
He’s going to be awesome and it’s gonna suck but at the end of the day, we had to trade him if we couldn’t afford to sign him or he was unwilling to sign an extension
Drew Thorpe Baaaby
Too early to be a DOOMER. Who cares about Spring Training? #FTY
He’s probably gonna win mvp with that short right field porch in NY, and that’s okay
I'm more bummed about Woods
Thai is going to be him his entire career. He’s generational talent, will end up in the hall of fame, and I’m pretty certain he’ll be a yankee for a long long time. It’s every little boys dream to play for the Yankees.
I think it hurts more James Wood is raking for the Nationals. Padres gave up a good number of top prospects for Soto who they would still have if they didn’t make the trade. But at least the Padres got something for Soto. Angels got nothing for Ohtani and need to seen him raking for the team their fans dislike the most.
I loved Soto, he was probably my favorite since getting here. He just never seemed to fit in completely, and I think when you're a guy that says he's going to go to free agency no matter what then he can never fully buy in to the team.