Report: Padres trying to extend Juan Soto

According to Bob Nightengale, the San Diego Padres “are aggressively trying to sign Juan Soto to a contract extension, just as they have all season, before having to make a decision this winter whether to keep him or risk losing him as a free agent after 2024.”

The Padres wanting to have Soto be in the brown and gold long-term shouldn’t be a surprise. They traded nearly all of their best prospects (and MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams) for him. You don’t do that if you’re just going to let him walk without making any effort to lock him up.

But San Diego aggressively trying to sign him all season is a surprise. Soto got off to a slow start for his standards and the team hasn’t been above .500 since May 10. Some fans probably want them aggressively trying to win more games before aggressively trying to give him $500 million.

Nightengale has gotten things wrong before so he might not be totally correct here. After all, no San Diego beat writer has reported this so you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up yet.

It’s also valid to point out Soto declined a $440 million extension from the Washington Nationals, which prompted his GM at the time, Mike Rizzo, to start shopping him in the first place. Therefore it would have to take more than that for the 24-year-old to even think about signing away his ability to go to whatever team he wants after next season.

His agent is also Scott Boras, who has a history of having his big time players go to free agency. If an offer is made to Soto by the Padres, it probably should come in the offseason when the player can take some time to really think about it.