Phillies backup plan Juan Soto should be another future Hall of Famer with local ties

The Philadelphia Phillies are expected to meet with Juan Soto and make a competitive offer, but bidding on Soto’s services will get wild—perhaps too wild, according to John Middleton, Dave Dombrowski and the front office. We know Philadelphia will spend to compete, but shelling out over $600 million in guaranteed money with the Phillies’ current roster is an ambitious goal.

Now, must Are the Phillies doing this? Certainly. In an ideal world, every ownership group would accept financial losses if it meant winning at the highest level. Phyllis needs field help. The Phillies need stability on offense. And frankly, the Phillies need more youth to maintain and extend their World Series window. Juan Soto achieves all three at the same time.

However, New York teams seem much more likely to stick with Soto when all is said and done. So the Phillies need to start preparing backup plans. There are popular names on the market like Louis Robert Jr. or Cody Bellinger, but what if the Phillies want to aim even higher? Why not target arguably the best pound-for-pound player in the MLB?

Mike Trout is just sitting in Los Angeles Angels purgatory. It’s clear the Angels want to compete this season, but at some point you have to accept reality. Trout carries more than his share of risk, but it might be worth it for the increasingly desperate Phils.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB insider Robert Murray’s work on Baseball Insiders Podcastsubscribe to Moonshotour weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the latest information on the MLB offseason.

The problem with Mike Trout is quite simple. He’s still extremely talented, but it’s fair to wonder if he’ll ever be healthy enough to have a deep postseason game. This should obviously concern the Phillies, whose only goal at the moment is to reach the top of the mountain, but Trout’s talent is what makes him worth the risk – even with a contract that pays him $37.1 million annually through 2030. It’s an extremely bold investment, but if the Phillies are truly willing to throw caution to the wind to win, this move checks a lot of boxes.

Trout is truly an elite five-tool player in center field. He is a full-strength hitting machine, often finding gaps and hitting off-base hits. Trout once led MLB in OBP four straight years and three of them in OPS. Injuries continue to hamper him, but when he is available, Trout remains one of the league’s best offensive players. In just 29 games last season, Trout hit 10 home runs and six stolen bases.

Over the past five years, it has eclipsed 100 games played just once. alarming. Especially at 33 years old. Eventually there will be a natural decline, as well as a reduction in production due to injury or injury prevention. There’s a good chance the Phillies will have to severely limit Trout’s reps during the regular season.

However, thanks to the sheer amount of talent, Philadelphia is likely one of the few teams that can afford to trade Trout without knocking him down, despite the price of his contract. If the Angels do trade Trout, it would be more of a pay cut than a blockbuster grab at this point. The Phillies could potentially add Trout for pennies on the dollar down the road, while taking on the gigantic tax bill required to do so.

If this move requires trading Nick Castellanos or Alec Bohm to keep salaries down, oh well. The ceiling is so high for Trout if he can put together a semi-healthy campaign. It addresses such a clear need for a lineup that it’s hard not to get excited just thinking about it. It helps that Trout is a local kid and a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan. He was made for this city, and baseball’s most ruthless fans will greet him accordingly.

Of course, trout in Philadelphia will be held to a high standard, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s so much that can go wrong, but there’s also so much that can go right when you put Kyle Schwarber, Tree Turner, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout on your roster.