The Juan Soto saga could never have existed.
Soto would never have left the San Diego Padres if the franchise owner had not succumbed to his battle with cancer in 2023, according to Scott Boras, the star’s agent for the Yankees.
“if [Padres owner] “If Peter Seidler were still alive, none of this would have happened,” Boras told USA Today in an interview published Monday. “Juan could have been with the Padres. He couldn’t have been traded to the Yankees.
Juan Soto’s agent Scott Boras Jason Sinise/New York Post
Boras’ comments to USA Today come just one day after The Post’s Jon Heyman reported that the Dodgers will make bids on Soto, 26, when he hits the free agent market in the coming weeks.
Bidding is expected to begin the day after the end of the World Championship.
All signs point to the Dominican signing one of the most lucrative contracts in the history of the sport, if not the most lucrative. The “floor” figure currently hovers around $500 million; In addition to the Yankees and Dodgers, the Mets and Blue Jays are also considered favorites in the impending lottery.
However, Boras says, there is a world in which the four-time All-Star never left San Diego.
“Peter [Seidler] And I was knee-deep in Juan Soto [contract] “Discussions,” Boras said. “Well advanced. His illness stopped the process because we knew the organization would be different. He wanted to move forward even though he was sick.”
“I have a text message from [Seidler] “Four days before he died, he came back online very quickly,” Boras said.
Seidler, who joined the Padres ownership group in 2012 and became the team’s largest shareholder in 2020, died at age 63 in November 2023. Soto was traded to the Bronx less than a month later.
Yankees outfielder Juan Soto Getty Images
His year in pinstripes has been everything Brian Cashman and company had hoped.
Soto set personal bests in plate appearances (713), runs (128), hits (166), and home runs (41), and raised his game even further in October – adding four home runs and batting .350 across 11 Yankees. . Postseason games heading into Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night.
As Boras says, that was the impact Seidler saw in Soto when he acquired him from the Nationals and how he envisioned him far into the future.
Former Padres owner Peter Seidler on July 28, 2023. Getty Images
“Peter wasn’t trading Juan Soto. No way. He kept saying, ‘I traded for a franchise.’ I’m not giving up on him. He couldn’t believe it.” [the Nationals] Juan Soto traded. “He loved Juan,” Porras said.
New York certainly does too.
