Padres social media posts incredible announcement of Juan Soto trade

San Diego is committed to cutting payroll, after a disappointing 82-80 season in 2023. They’ve already lost manager Bob Melvin to their division rival San Francisco Giants, and the Padres seem resigned to losing closer Josh Hader and Cy Young winner Blake Snell in free agency.

Soto was traded for a backup catcher and four rotation candidates, only one of which, Drew Thorpe, is a true pitching prospect. 

The real motivation was to dump Soto’s salary, projected to be more than $30M next season, a year ahead of his free agency.

That’s why the first tweet celebrated the five relatively-anonymous players heading to Southern California and not the departing players. 

San Diego also dealt outfield Trent Grisham to New York, who was mentioned alongside Soto in a thank-you post.

But the hastily-assembled image of the players coming to the Padres shows there’s still optimism in San Diego amid their salary dumps. At least in the social media department.