2 reasons the Padres should not trade Juan Soto this offseason, 1 reason they should

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Last season, the San Diego Padres made the decision to trade a slew of their top prospects to the Washington Nationals in a deal to land them one of, if not the most valuable asset in the game in Juan Soto. This isn't to say Soto was the best player in the game (despite certainly being one of them), but a player as good as Soto is with 2.5 years of control being available is practically unheard of.

The Padres outfielder hasn't quite reached the levels he was at with Washington when he was possibly the best pure hitter in the game, but he's still been a star, and with everything going on with the Padres they'll have a decision to make regarding his future.

Soto will be entering the final year of his deal, so the Friars have three options. They can trade him to ensure they get something back for him, they can extend him on a massive deal, or they can simply play out the year and see what happens. There're arguments for either trading him or keeping him.

The San Diego Padres should trade Juan Soto so they can add depth to a depleted lineup

The Padres are not nine games under .500 and 6.5 games back of a playoff spot because of Juan Soto. in fact, since he finished a lackluster April, he's been their best hitter. They've struggled because they lack depth around their stars.

The Padres have an absurd top of their order featuring breakout star Ha-Seong Kim, Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, and Xander Bogaerts. That's as good of a top five in any lineup in baseball. The problem is, the other half of their order is filled with average to below average talent.

The Padres have a strong rotation and decent bullpen, but the lineup is extremely top-heavy. Removing Soto from it obviously hurts, but what if the Padres used the money Soto would make to acquire two or three bats?

The Padres only have so much they can spend, and chances are if they do give Juan Soto the large and expensive contract he desires, there will be very little wiggle room for the Padres to add enough to get back to where they want to be.

San Diego Padres left fielder Juan Soto / Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres should trade Juan Soto to avoid risking losing him for nothing

Losing Juan Soto for nothing would be a disastrous outcome for the Padres. They're already a team built to win now for the next three to five years at least with all of the contracts on their books, and losing arguably their best player with no way of replacing him would be an awful thing.

The Padres gave away C.J. Abrams, Mackenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, James Wood, Jarlin Susana, and Luke Voit to acquire Soto and Josh Bell last season. They won't be netting anything close to this kind of a return with Soto on an expiring deal, but the Friars can still net a top prospect or two with some other smaller pieces. Even with him only having one guaranteed year left, it's still Juan Soto we're talking about here.

If the Padres took a trade in exchange for a blue chip prospect and a couple of other smaller pieces, they'd give themselves potentially six or seven years with a future star on team-friendly money, and would also be giving themselves the chance to simply spend money they'd use on Soto on others.

There's no inclanation Soto will extend before he tests the market either forcing the Padres to give him an even larger contract or simply watching him walk out of the door. Imagine he goes ahead and signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers while they get nothing but a compensatory pick. Talk about disaster, that's the ultimate one right there.

The Padres should keep Juan Soto because he's simply too good to trade

With Abrams and Gore showing strides at the MLB level and James Wood developing into one of the best prospects in baseball while the Padres watch their season fade away with no postseason berth, it's easy to think Washington won this Juan Soto trade. That might be true, but there's no way of knowing.

As of now, the Nationals have a decent shortstop in Abrams, a nice mid-rotation starter in Gore, and three prospects who have yet to make an impact in Wood, Hassell III, and Susana. Can those three prospects be good? Absolutely. Can they turn into Luis Campusano instead and just fizzle out? Absolutely.

Trading Soto for lottery tickets can look good potentially, but it can also be a complete waste. The Padres might just be better off going for it in 2024 and giving it their best shot to re-sign him. If he walks, at least they tried to win with him here.

This is the riskiest option out there by far, but watching Soto win it all in another organization in 2024 might just be the last straw for many frustrated Padres fans who have watched this team fail miserably to meet expectations with this super team.

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