Padres Owner Peter Seidler Died Not Wanting to Trade Juan Soto

Peter Seidler didn't want Juan Soto to leave San Diego and Soto didn't want to leave San Diego. He had multiple conversations with Seidler and those led Soto to believe that he wasn't going anywhere, according to new reporting by ESPN.

Things changed on Nov. 2.

Soto's agent Scott Boras reached out to Seidler that day via text message. Seidler responded and let Boras know that he was "improving steadily" and that though doctors had told him to stay off his phone, "I'm going to keep in touch with you anyway."

Seidler died 12 days later.

According to ESPN, sources familiar with the team's thinking believe the Padres ultimately would have had no choice but to trade Soto. The Padres desperately needed to acquire starting pitching and get their payroll below $200 million.

San Diego was already tied up in long-term deals with Fernando Tatis Jr., Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. Keeping Soto for another year, given their budget constraints, was more of a dream than a reality. The only way for the Padres to remain competitive on a budget was to trade a high-value player.

"I only know everything that Peter said to me," Boras said. "Peter Seidler always said to me that Juan Soto will be on his team. He said it 50 times to me — 'Juan Soto will be on my team.' "

Seidler made Soto believe he wasn't going anywhere. When Seidler died, he took with him any plans to make sure the young star would be a Padre in 2024. It also leaves this question unanswered: Would Seidler have found a way to keep Soto?