The Dodgers Are Much Better Off Without Juan Soto and His $765 Million Deal: Opinion

As soon as the news of Michael Conforto’s signing rolled in Sunday evening, the thought of Juan Soto not coming to Los Angeles crossed my mind — and I let out a sigh of relief.

Not too long after that, reports of Soto’s 15-year, $765 million contract rolled in and it wasn’t until it was reported that his absurd deal didn’t include a single penny of deferrals that I realized the Los Angeles Dodgers were better off without him.

From the beginning of his free agency, it was clear that Soto and his agent, Scott Boras, were chasing the money and their decision would come down to that. It wasn’t anything like Shohei Ohtani signing his 10-year, $700 million contract while deferring $680 million of it.

Ohtani wanted the Dodgers to build a team around him. He wanted the front office to use the money deferred to sign guys like Tyler Glasnow, Tommy Edman, and hopefully, Teoscar Hernández.

We know what Soto’s other offers were. The Dodgers capped their offer at $600 million while the New York Yankees offered $760 million over 16 years, according to multiple reports.

When it comes to Soto, he is very much a two-dimensional player. He can hit and he can get on base but he is a below-average defender, he isn’t going to steal bases, and he isn’t going to show his versatility in the field and show up on the mound.

So, the question remains: Why are the Dodgers better off without Soto? Simple, it isn’t about on-field performance.

Once $600 million wasn’t enough for Soto, it wasn’t even about baseball anymore. It was about the ego of two wealthy owners who wanted the player with the most expensive contract in sports history on their roster. Never mind the fact that he has yet to win an MVP award while his former teammate, Aaron Judge, was the unanimous American League winner this season. Even Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. garnered more votes than Soto.

Buster Olney and Jeff Passan of ESPN said something similar on Monday.

“Do we really believe that either Brian Cashman or David Stearn is saying to their owner, ‘You know what it’s a good baseball deal to give this guy $51 million when we know he’s probably going to be a DH for most of his career,'” Olney said. “There’s no chance that happens, this is all about the two owners.”

“It’s kind of amazing that the Yankees lost out on Juan Soto and might be better off at the end of the day… Here’s the thing, this is not a good baseball deal,” Passan said. “In the context of everything else in the sport, it is an exceptional overpay.”

The Dodgers are going to move on from the Soto sweepstakes without losing any sleep and continue to put a championship-caliber team on the field with players who want to be Dodgers and be a part of something bigger than themselves.

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