Philadelphia Phillies Viewed as Great Fit for Juan Soto in Free Agency

The Philadelphia Phillies could bring in another star in free agency this offseason.

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies enter the offseason with the clear and demonstrated knowledge that the roster as currently constructed is not good enough to win a World Series.

After overachieving in the last two postseasons by making a World Series in 2022 and a return to the NLCS last year, Philadelphia had their best regular season and first division title since 2011 and entered the playoffs with high hopes of finishing the job. Instead, the Phillies were dominated in four games at the hand of the New York Mets in a series where the bats died and the bullpen imploded.

Despite having as Dave Dombrowski says 'more stars than anyone else in baseball', it still felt like the team was a piece or two away from having what they need to win a title.

While Dombrowski's comments did not inspire hope that Philadelphia would go all-out to pursue a player with the the star power and anticipated contract of Juan Soto, he did say that the team would be more than willing to spend for the right player and many have continued to link the ball club to Soto. In their recent article, The Athletic detailed how Philadelphia could fit Soto into their lineup if the team pulls the trigger on bringing the superstar in.

"There is no player more 'right' than Soto, who could bring another massive bat to a powerful Phillies order. Signing Soto, though, would require some level of creativity," Cody Stavenhagen wrote. "Philadelphia already has defensively challenged players in Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber  and no DH at-bats to spare. But Soto has ties to Schwarber, Trea Turner and hitting coach Kevin Long. The complications here make the Phillies seem like a long shot, but wheeling and dealing in pursuit of a star player has long been Dave Dombrowski’s specialty."

Given the connection to current Phillies players and the fact that Philadelphia always has money to spend, bringing in Soto makes a lot of sense. He's the kind of player that every single team wants in their lineup and is arguably the best hitter in baseball already without even hitting his prime at just 26 years old.

Not only that, but Soto has proven to perform his best when the lights are brightest both with the Yankees in this postseason and with the Nationals in their 2019 World Series triumph. There's no reason to think he isn't worth every penny of the massive contract he will receive.

If the Phillies want to instantly make their lineup the best and most intimidating in all of baseball - not to mention keeping Soto away from the Mets - then doing whatever it takes to land the superstar makes a lot of sense.