Trade Rumor Pushback on Rumored Cubs Targets Juan Soto and Pete Alonso

Once Jed Hoyer made the dramatic decision to fire David Ross and make Craig Counsell the highest paid manager in MLB history, all eyes turned to the Chicago Cubs. Reports of their interest in the top free agents like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and Cody Bellinger took off almost immediately (and don’t figure to slow down anytime soon).

However, I don’t want to lose sight of how this offseason began: with heavy TRADE rumors involving the Chicago Cubs — Juan Soto and Pete Alonso chief among them.

But lately — as in, like, the last 24 hours — there’s been some pushback on that front, mostly born out of comments from team leaders in San Diego and New York, as well the players’ shared agent, Scott Boras. Mind you, the pushback is not of the Cubs purported interest in those players, which remains true, but of those players’ availability in the first place. That’s what we’ll discuss here today.

Juan Soto

In his latest article at The San Diego Union Tribune, Kevin Acee reported some comments from Juan Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, who did not make it sound like the Padres were planning to trade Juan Soto this offseason:

“They laid out their plan for next year, which obviously included a lineup that definitely included Juan Soto,” Boras said of a meeting his agency had with the Padres’ brass on Tuesday. “He’s their one .900-OPS player. They’re obviously looking for more left-handed bats rather than less.”

“They’re telling us that they’re trying to win and they’re going to be very aggressive in the free-agent market,” Boras said.

And for what it’s worth, Padres GM AJ Preller did make multiple comments that seemed to be about trying to lock up Soto this offseason almost as a prerequisite to not trading him. In other words, if he can’t come to an agreement with Soto (one that likely pays him LESS in 2024), then Soto will get dealt. But it did sound like maybe they would try? Either way, that’s a bit of a pivot from what we were hearing over the past couple of weeks.

And Boras/Preller are not alone. Jon Heyman also pushed back on the idea of the Padres trading Soto this offseason in his latest livestream for Bleacher Report. It was more speculative-y than anything else, but probably somewhat informed, as well.

Even still … I just still don’t buy it. Scott Boras and AJ Preller have CLEAR incentives here. Boras to make the world believe the Padres might still be aggressive spenders and Preller to regain the significant leverage lost after reports of how much payroll they need to cut this offseason.

And while Heyman does tend to have a fine sense of the market in general, Acee is much more tapped into what motivates the Padres. And he still seems to believe Juan Soto will get moved. And that means I still believe it.

Pete Alonso

As I mentioned, Juan Soto is not Scott Boras’ only high-profile young player one year away from free agency being connected in trade rumors to the Chicago Cubs. He also has Pete Alonso as a client.

But it sounds like Boras and new Mets President, David Stearns, might try to get an extension done before any more rumors take off:

“I know over the summer there was some trade speculation, and look I’ll just say I expect Pete to be the Opening Day first baseman next year,” Stearns said. “Pete’s an important member of this team, he’s an important member of this organization, and I think we’re really fortunate to have him.”

“We’re going to have those conversations,” Stearns said during an appearance on MLB Network from the GM Meetings. “I’m generally of the mind that I try to keep those conversations out of the public dialogue.”

Boras also had that one-liner about not being in “hibernation,” when it comes to extension negotiations for Alonso (nickname: Polar Bear).

Like Soto/Preller, Stearns has all the reason in the world to want the industry to believe he prefers to hang onto Alonso. And, look … maybe! If the Mets pivot away from taking 2024 off as they had reportedly intended, then having a 29-year-old Pete Alonso makes a lot of sense. So maybe, then, his availability depends on what the Mets are first able to accomplish in free agency. Sign Yamamoto? Then Alonso is staying. Whiff? You trade him. That sort of thing (though not quite so myopic).

I tend to think both of these updates are more about preserving or regaining leverage than any true intentions towards an extension (moreso for the Padres/Soto than the Mets/Alonso). But I thought you should see it all anyway. It’s gonna be one of those up-and-down offseasons in terms of rumors. So buckle up!

Update: Meant to include this somewhere. Jon Morosi puts the odds of Pete Alonso (as well as Juan Soto) right at 50/50. Though that’s arguably less importantly than the conversation that got him there and then comparison between these two players and their respective team.