MLB Rumors: Juan Soto sounds off, Carlos Correa regrets, Dodgers-Brewers trade?
By Mark Powell
MLB Rumors: Juan Soto sounds off on Padres failures
Buying at the MLB trade deadline was a bold approach by San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller, but it hasn’t worked out so well thus far.
The Padres held a players-only meeting after their most recent defeat, a 6-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners which dropped San Diego to 55-60 on the season.
“Any loss is disappointing right now,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said, per the AP. ”With Yu Darvish on the mound and you’re facing a guy in his major league debut, maybe that adds to it, but I think any loss right now, especially after we lost the first game here, each one of them is disappointing.”
The players seemed to put a bit of onus on this defeat.
“Unacceptable,” Manny Machado said, per the San Diego Union-Tribune. “… I mean, he made some good pitches. We just couldn’t capitalize on it. But yeah, we’re way better than that, than what we did today.”
Juan Soto, who was mentioned in trade rumors prior to the deadline and should pop up again this offseason come the winter meetings, was the loudest of the bunch.
“We’ve got to play as a team,” Soto said. “We’ve got to go out there grind every day. Grind every at-bat. … It’s been really inconsistent. Some days we do, some days we don’t. We gotta do it every day. Days like this series, we just give up. Like literally, we just give up instead of keep grinding, keep pushing. We’ve got to forget about yesterday and keep moving.”
With each passing comment, Soto’s future in San Diego grows more murky.
Soto won’t be a free agent until the 2024-25 offseason, but a contract extension seems unlikely given he’s a Scott Boras client. The star outfielder should test his market value in free agency, especially if it’s as high as Boras says it is. For most teams, trading Soto would be on the table, but this is Preller and the win-now Padres we’re talking about.
Soto’s growing frustration, and the Pads potential failure to make the playoffs, is something to keep an eye on.
Next. MLB Rumors: Diagnosing the Padres’ three options with Juan Soto. dark