A new report says that the Phillies do still plan to meet with Juan Soto, and pushes back against the idea that the club hasn't spoken at all with agent Scott Boras.
MLB.com's Todd Zolecki wrote this of Soto Wednesday:
"Sources said the Phillies have not met with Soto, but expectations remain that they will. One report said the Phils have not even expressed interest in Soto to his agent, Scott Boras, but there has been communication between the two parties since the end of the season."
Earlier this week, USA Today's Bob Nightengale said this of the Phillies regarding Soto:
"Oh, and after all of speculation that the Phillies are involved in the Soto sweepstakes?
"They haven’t had a single conversation with Boras to express interest in Soto."
You can speculate on where Nightengale may have gotten that perspective, and what reasons his source(s) may have had for making it seem that the Phillies were altogether sitting out the Soto sweepstakes.
Even if it turns out that the Phillies do indeed plan to meet with Soto — which The New York Post's Jon Heyman said was the case last week — it's hard to feel that this is any more than due diligence.
Not only have Soto and Boras already met with the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays, but both Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media and Jon Morosi of MLB.com have reported that those five clubs have already submitted initial offers for the 26-year-old superstar.
Granted, this is a holiday week, so it may have been difficult to coordinate a meeting. Also, The Athletic's Brendan Kuty reports that there will be multiple rounds of offers for Soto. Ultimately, if the Phillies put the highest offer on the table, they're going to be in the discussion.
But think back to when Bryce Harper or Trea Turner were free agents. The Phillies were very aggressive. There was never a question of whether they were all-in. Certainly, there wasn't a quote like this from managing partner John Middleton.
"I'm afraid Juan Soto wants to be in New York, and I don't mind being a stalking horse, " Middleton said, according to Conor Smith of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"At some point, if Dave and I get that feeling, we'll probably say 'You know what, we're not going to win this' because we've both been the stalking horse before. And if I were an agent, I would do it too. It's perfectly good strategy. I mean, it's smart. But at the end of the day, I just think he likes New York."
From @TimKellySports: Would Willy Adames or Alex Bregman Make More Sense For The Phillies?https://t.co/I3Qmu6XaVP
