San Diego Padres: Juan Soto's flight to Philadelphia has Phillies reporter worked up

As we reported on Thursday, Juan Soto of the San Diego Padres did indeed catch a flight from the All-Star Game to Philadelphia with members of the Phillies. With the Padres and Phillies opening a four-game set on Friday night, the reason for the flight makes sense. However, there are plenty of people who are using this flight as a connecting point in any rumors that would involve a Soto trade from the Padres to the Phillies.

How much are people trying to connect the dots? Well, this reporter in Philadelphia asked Phillies manager Rob Thomson about it point blank ... and the conversation didn't go so well.

Thought of San Diego Padres-Philadelphia Phillies trade involving Juan Soto has this radio host asking questions of Rob Thomson

Thomson managed the NL team to a 3-2 win in Seattle during the All-Star Game and was on the flight back from Philadelphia that had Soto as one of the passengers. With that in mind, Philadelphia radio host Howard Eskin tried to get the scoop on any conversations in flight in a very awkward way prior to Friday's series opener.

The looks that Thomson gives during the interview are outstanding. First, even if any conversations had happened, would the Phillies manager really dish about it in a pregame series before the two teams played? Second, there's reportedly no thought at the moment that the Padres are going to trade Soto, Josh Hader, Blake Snell or any other San Diego player at the trade deadline (even though Eskin says he's "obviously" going to get traded). And, as a reminder, Soto isn't due to be a free agent until the 2025 season, meaning that the Padres still have time to decide exactly where he fits into their future.

Maybe, just maybe, the flight wasn't a way to tamper with Soto or to get a leg up into the potential trade war. That may be hard for Eskin to believe, but it certainly is a possibility.