MLB Rumors Padres Frontrunners for Juan Soto

MLB Rumors: Padres Frontrunners for Juan Soto?

juan-soto-getty.png

Getty Images

Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is August 2, so we’re heading into the home stretch as teams sort out whether they’re buyers, sellers, or owners and move toward some landscape-changing deals. On Wednesday night, the Yankees finalized a deal for All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi. It wasn’t really a first to fall domino type move that will unravel the rest of the market, but it was good to see things starting to move here as the deadline is less than a week away.

More will come soon. Let’s take a look at the latest from the MLB rumor mill.

Padres up front for Soto?

Obviously the biggest name out there is Nationals superstar Juan Soto. There’s smoke everywhere and reports say as many as a dozen teams have checked in with the Nats. The favorite at the moment is debatable, however Buster Olney reports that “some competing executives currently perceive the Padres” as “front-runners”.

It’s a juicy rumor, that’s for sure. It’s fun to think about the Padres adding Soto and bringing Fernando Tatis Jr. back from injury to complement a line-up featuring Manny Machado. They’re 10 games over .500 and mostly weathered the Tatis injury with great pitching.

Well, it should be noted that last year there was a perception that the Padres were the leaders of Max Scherzer, and it even came close enough that many thought the trade was going to happen. Then the Dodgers swooped in and grabbed Scherzer and Trea Turner — so let’s remember to avoid overreacting.

Please tick the opt-in box to confirm that you wish to opt-in.

Astros switch MLB SP for position players?

The Astros have one of the best teams in baseball as their window of World Series competition remains wide open. They also have a “good problem” with too much initial pitch. They currently use a six-man rotation and Lance McCullers, Jr. is looking to return from his forearm injury soon. Sure, they could knock Odorizzi out of the rotation, but that would still mean six top-league-quality starters, and they don’t really need to have that many.

Especially if they could trade to shore up weakness. Ken Rosenthal reports that Jose Urquidy could be the man on the move to outperform Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier among their talented and cost-controlled starters.

The report indicates that Astros would be looking for a quality catcher or midfielder in return. A’s catcher Sean Murphy, Pirates center fielder Bryan Reynolds and Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins are mentioned. Rosenthal also reports that it’s possible Astros may ship Urquidy to a third party for prospects and use those prospects to get Reynolds or Murphy.