Padres Fans Share Their Honest Thoughts Regarding the Juan Soto Trade

Soto was traded to the Yankees in early December.

The blockbuster trade of the offseason came when the San Diego Padres traded away star outfielder Juan Soto to the New York Yankees. San Diego entered the offseason with the goal of cutting salary off the books, and by trading Soto, they saved over $30 million for the upcoming season.

Anytime a team trades a star like Soto, they typically receive the worse end of the deal. But the San Diego front office did get themselves a nice haul back for Soto, with multiple pieces likely to help their starting rotation this coming year.

The Padres received pitchers Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe and veteran catcher Kyle Higashioka for Soto. Other than the trade of Soto, the offseason hasn't been overly exciting. 

The fanbase has been used to the team being aggressive, not shedding salary. But it seems that the fans generally feel good about the Soto move.

In a fan survey conducted by The Athletic's Dennis Lin, over 50% of the fans included were in favor of the deal. Overall, 16.2% said that they loved it, 39.6% said they liked it, 26.2% said that they were unsure, 11.5% said that they didn't like it and only 6.5% said that they hated it. 

"There was nothing ideal about trading Soto only 16 months after the Padres surrendered a haul of talent to acquire him. Yet in this economy — have you seen the price of free-agent pitching? — plenty of fans and scouts alike think Preller did OK salvaging some value and upside. King could establish himself as San Diego’s No. 3 starter, or better. The other three pitchers in the deal are young and cost-controlled. We’ll see how it all unfolds, of course. Considering the gaping void in the outfield, maybe the loss of Grisham has been underrated."

Per Dennis Lin via The Athletic

These are fairly good numbers from the fanbase, despite the team losing one of the biggest stars in the game today. Only time will tell if the deal works out, but for now, the Padres have to feel good about the deal.