Ramble for July 27, 2022

The Juan Soto Sweepstakes…

The All-Star break is behind us. My Angels are hopelessly under the .500 mark AGAIN! But we still have tons of baseball left to play.

Of course, that means that it’s trading time.

This year, there are some big names, like always, on the trading block, but none seems to be drawing as much attention as Juan Soto. And it is easy to see why…He just rejected a deal from the Nationals that would have put him in the top echelon of player contracts. He would have been making almost $30 million a year – and he rejected it, thinking he could get a better deal.

I suppose when your name comes up in relation to Mike Trout, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, and such, you can start thinking you deserve the best contract available in the league. We’ll see if he gets it, but it certainly looks like it’s going to be somewhere other than Washington.

Personally, I’d like to see him come to San Diego. My first choice would, of course, be my Angels, but we’re so far under .500 that I’m not sure a slugger of Soto’s caliber would even push us to that level, much less make us playoff worthy this year. And the Angels have offense when they are healthy – THE NEED PITCHING <- read that Artie, read that Minasian…THE ANGELS NEED PITCHING!!!! It’s so negligent that the owner and GM of the Angels refuse to recognize and act on what EVERY FAN OF BASEBALL HAS KNOWN FOR THE PAST 5 YEARS OR MORE.

Anyway, since my Angels would be just another sinkhole for Soto, and he would probably come to the team and start playing like crap, I hope that the Padres pick him up.

San Diego is a team that can win now. They’ve got a great set of players and will be getting Fernando Tatis Jr. back soon to add to their lineup. Imagine what a second addition like Soto could do for the team. The Padres have 81 home runs as a team…add Soto’s 20, and they’re at 101. And while his batting average is only .243, that’s a low point for him over the past few years.

Slotting him into Right Field and the Pads get a huge upgrade for this and the next couple of seasons…They have the salary cap to keep him long-term too. Bringing Soto to a team that is already set to gain the benefit of one of the best hitting Shortstops in the league would be fun to watch.

And these two players would be together for years…Just imagine what San Diego could do with their excellent pitching and these two bats providing offense. They certainly could put a dent in the Dodgers’ hopes for NL West dominance.

Ramble 183 | Elephant 44 | 2022.129 | Ramble for July 27, 2022