Grasping at straws: The worst Juan Soto reporter is lacking only in flight tracking

The reporting in Juan Soto's free agency chase hasn't been pristine, and I'm putting it kindly. In fact, Soto's recruitment has reminded some MLB pundits of Shohei Ohtani's free agency just last winter. Ohtani signed on Dec. 9, while Soto is expected to reveal his next destination around the same time.

Scott Boras has kept Soto's negotiations relatively quiet, which is also similar to Ohtani. That sort of secrecy lends itself to unsubstantiated rumors, which the Ohtani reporting had plenty of. Who can forget the day we all spent tracking flights to Toronto?

The Soto links have gotten that bad – at least not yet. However, some of the unverified reporters claiming to know of Soto's whereabouts and best interest are merely chasing for credit among baseball fans. Let's take Mike Rodriguez for example.

Rodriguez is verified on X/Twitter, which doesn't mean much these days thanks to Elon. Rodriguez is unaffiliated as of this writing, but is a former analyst for the Chicago Cubs. His profile picture is, ironically, a picture of himself and Soto. How about that?

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Juan Soto reporting has been a mess this week

There's nothing wrong with Rodriguez spreading the good word about Soto, especially if he actually has some dirt. None of us can prove whether or not Rodriguez has an inkling on Soto's next landing spot, but thus far he's essentially declared the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox and even Blue Jays favorites for the Dominican superstar. Meanwhile, industry leaders like ESPN's Jeff Passan and even FanSided's Robert Murray haven't verified any such thing.

Passan even went as far as to declare the Soto reporting a 'sea of misinformation'.

"In a sea of misinformation about Soto's plans, here is the reality: The end is near. Teams engaged in a third round of Soto bidding this week, and while no deal is imminent, one could materialize before the winter meetings officially begin Monday. Wherever he goes, the contract is expected to set records for length and potentially overall value," Passan wrote in his recent column.

So does Rodriguez know what he's talking about, or is Passan correct in declaring all of this misinformation and borderline gaslighting? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, but it's important to put any reporting about Soto in perspective for the next week.