Advertisement

Scott Boras reveals difficult truth about Peter Seidler's death, Juan Soto trade

The passing of owner Peter Seidler seems to have completely changed the trajectory of the Padres.
Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Friars On Base

Los Angeles Dodgers v San Diego Padres / Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/GettyImages

Much has been made of how the San Diego Padres trimmed their payroll ahead of the 2024 season. There were already whispers that the Padres could reduce a bit going back to last year if they didn't make a deep playoff run (they obviously didn't), but the trade of Juan Soto still came as a shock to Padres fans who had grown accustomed to "going for it" the last few years.

However, the biggest blow came in tragic fashion last November when Padres owner Peter Seidler passed away. Seidler was such a driving force in San Diego's push to field a contender and spent whatever it took to make that happen.

Once he passed away, the sentiment that the Padres would change course got a whole lot louder, and that is exactly what happened.

Baseball mega-agent and everyone's favorite villain Scott Boras seemed to confirm as much recently when he said that Seidler would have never traded Soto if he was still alive.

Scott Boras' comments on Soto trade will have Padres wondering what might have been

Sadly for Padres fans, Seidler's death came at a uniquely bad time for the franchise. The Padres were coming off a down year and it was going to take a lot of personal risk for an owner to look at San Diego's 2023 season and continue down that same path. Seidler had that drive in him, but his successors (somewhat understandably) don't seem to quite share that. It is a little different when it is your money at stake.

Instead, the Padres had to watch Soto return to San Diego wearing a Yankees uniform. He is currently among the favorites to win AL MVP this year and will almost certainly sign one of the biggest deals in baseball history next offseason when Soto hits free agency.

Given that the Padres have managed to hang around this season despite losing Soto and other star level players last offseason, one cannot help but wonder what they could have done had Seidler been alive today.

More Padres News from Friars on Base

Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.