For most baseball executives, the day after Thanksgiving has few “Black Friday” shopping opportunities. The bargains are out there for most teams as normal with minor leaguers, lower level players, retreads, and finding players looking for rebound contracts. The Washington Nationals did sign Jeimer Candelario after Thanksgiving in 2022 on this same day. Canderlario was coming off of a rough 2022 campaign in which he hit just .217 with a .633 OPS. That signing worked out very well for the Nats. Candelario did well in the 2023 season and was flipped at the trade deadline for DJ Herz and Kevin Made.
Most Nats’ fans do not want to see the Nats shopping in that aisle of the store because for every bounceback player that works, like Jesse Winker, you have players like Nick Senzel, Eddie Rosario, and Joey Gallo that might not work. Nats fans want general manager Mike Rizzo shopping at the luxury stores in this offseason.
So far in this offseason, only two big names have been signed with Yusei Kikuchi and Blake Snell, and that leaves 48-names remaining in MLB Trade Rumors Top-50 rankings.
There was a credible rumor that the Boston Red Sox has offered Juan Soto a 13-year deal for $625 million. There were also some non-credible rumors that were shot down by Jeff Passan of ESPN in which a self-proclaimed reporter said that the deal was done with the Red Sox. Clearly it is not at this point. Maybe the Red Sox get Soto at some point — just not a done deal at this time.
You have to wonder if Mets’ owner, Steve Cohen, got some Thanksgiving indigestion reading the headlines on Soto offer(s). Of course Soto is the top free agent chip out there. He will probably sign soon, but keep in mind, December 1 is on Sunday, and the Winter Meetings in Dallas start the following week. Could he make up his mind before then? Well, Soto’s marketing team got him a deal with Pepsi’s Celsius for a social media troll job. You have to believe Soto got paid a lot to do this. Waiting a little longer might get him some more endorsements.
This is all going to be interesting to see if Soto signs early or will we see other players not want to wait around for Soto? Alex Bregman is getting the most chatter after Soto, and he has many of the same teams that want Soto on his rumored list of suitors. Bregman also has the same agent in Scott Boras.
Really, we are just in wait and see mode. Not much going on until we hear on Soto, it would seem. But then again, you never know. Fans of all teams are in a similar situation with having to wait for something to happen. Even Mets’ fans have to be nervous as Soto is at the top of their shopping list.
