Padres GM Reveals Thought Process Behind Juan Soto Trade

San Diego traded star Juan Soto to the Yankees on Wednesday.

The San Diego Padres finally pulled the trigger on trading star outfielder Juan Soto on Wednesday. Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in exchange for four young pitchers and one veteran catcher. 

Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller opened up on his thought process behind trading Soto away.

“It’s very difficult to make a deal where you’re trading a player the caliber of Juan Soto,” Preller said. “But if we did that, we wanted to make sure we shored up a bunch of needs. We were able to get some depth with quality. ... The ability to add to four arms to the pitching staff — pitchers that we think have both (a high) ceiling and also will be able to pitch for us this year and compete for time this year in our rotation — and adding a catcher that goes with (Luis) Campusano and goes with (Brett) Sullivan and shores up a position for us, at the end of the day, the combination of those two things really added up for us.”

Per A.J. Preller via The San Diego Union-Tribune

Trading a player like Soto wasn't an easy decision for the front office, but it was necessary for them to start building toward the future. After going all-in over the last few years, the Padres' had financial issues, and this is a way to help reset things.

San Diego has multiple players signed on large contracts long-term, and they couldn't afford to do the same with Soto. At least with this trade, they got themselves a few arms to replace some of the players they are expected to lose this offseason.

Some fans may not be happy with the trade, but it's better than keeping Soto for the year, only to lose him next winter in free agency. Now the front office has some extra flexibility to work with, and they can put the team in the best possible situation to succeed.