NL East power structure shifts for Phillies as Mets land Juan Soto

Juan Soto is a New York Met. Owner Steve Cohen threw fistfuls of money at the 26-year-old slugger until he eventually signed for 15 years and $765 million, the same amount of money the U.S. House of Representatives dedicated to defense spending for Guam in 2022. 

Teams are buying up their futures out there and the Mets were not going to be outbid, not even by their biggest rivals, the Yankees, who they unseated as the top spenders in New York. As the people of that city grapple with a new world order in New York baseball, every team, whether they signed Juan Soto or not, will be represented in Dallas for the MLB Winter Meetings Dec. 9-12. 

As the Yankees and Mets have been slap-fighting over Soto, the Phillies have been staring out a nearby window, simply pondering. They were perfectly fine sitting out the Soto negotiations, believing that the superstars already in their batting order should be able to get the job done just fine, recent evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. No, the Phillies have things other than Juan Soto on their minds. And in several days’ time, we might even know what some of them are.

The Phillies have a closed-door policy on secrets and lies, so much of their involvement in anything louder than a whisper this offseason has been hypothetical. Starting pitching is on their minds, despite it not being a huge need. But their lingering thoughts since July on Garrett Crochet of the White Sox have seen them linked to the young ace repeatedly. And according to one report, when the Phillies were talking about a deal with the Mariners, they checked in about which of Seattle’s two starting pitcher studs, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, might be available. 

An outfield bat has been listed at the top of their list this winter, but clearly, the Phillies aren’t worried about names coming off the outfield market. Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki mentioned Tyler O’Neill’s name earlier this winter as a potential low-key signing for the Phillies, but O’Neill was picked up by the Orioles on a three-year deal this week. The options out there are still plentiful, but everybody comes with their own risk (Anthony Santander is due for a dropoff, Teoscar Hernandez may prefer L.A. or Toronto, Juan Soto has already been paid $765 million, etc.). 

We’ve all been hearing Alec Bohm, Ranger Suarez, and even Nick Castellanos mentioned as potential members of the Phillies you know and/or love who could be moved. Even Brandon Marsh is thrown into that group as “tradeable,” so who knows what’s going on in Dombrowski’s head — as long as it’s the same type of thing that has made him a Hall of Fame exec thus far.

The Phillies also need bullpen help — every team is always looking for bullpen help — as they replace Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez. But this natural curiosity, or perhaps calculated strategy, to look into starting pitching despite how much of that the team already has, could be definitive of the Phillies’ plans. Soto wasn’t really an option for them even before he signed, so why not move in a completely different direction? It’s chaotic and less predictable, unlike the Mets, who did the most predictable thing they could have done this winter. 

NL East’s new landscape

The Mets and their fans will soon know how it feels to be the team everyone expects to win. It’ll be a new feeling, and perhaps even an unwelcome one at times, but they will no longer be the starry-eyed playoff underdogs who believe in the power of friendship. They will be the looming threat to anyone else’s success and they will have to be put down with extreme prejudice, because Juan Soto is going to homer twice if you look away for even a second. They will be studied, scrutinized, and lamented for everything that isn’t instant domination. And while no one in the world of the Mets is seriously concerned over Soto’s defense in right field now, the signing has changed not just which team Soto plays for, but who the Mets are as an organization.

The Phillies have undergone significant change since returning to the postseason in 2022. They were once a scrappy bunch of underperformers who clawed their way through the Cardinals to make it to the next round of the 2022 postseason. But they were old news by the 2024 playoffs.  It wasn’t cute or funny that they were there; it was expected and workmanlike. They showed up, just sort of stared dead-eyed at whatever the Mets threw at them, and waited patiently for their turn to swing at sliders so far off the plate the catcher could only reach them by hyperextending his elbow.

Back in those simpler times of the earlier 2020s, beating the Braves was the only rule in the NL East. Atlanta would climb into first place, usually pretty early, and sit on top of the division, kicking viciously downward if any of their rivals got too snippy. But that’s not the NL East we live in anymore. The Braves are still around, but they’ll be starting 2025 without Ronald Acuna, Jr. or Spencer Strider, which is the same way they finished 2024. The Phillies are also still around — sometimes it’s the only thing they are — and will have expectations to succeed before they do or do not shake up their roster. 

And now the Mets are every national writer’s favorite team. A former clown show featuring jaw-dropping miscues on the field and genuine malfeasance off of it, they were at best the beaten-down little brothers of baseball in their own city. Now, they’ve not only slapped the Phillies straight out of the NLDS, they’ve ripped a free agent who is frequently compared to Ted Williams out of the Yankees’ hands. The Mets are going to come into training camp this year with the assumption that THEY will be winning the World Series. And their fans will get to wander around in a stupor, whispering “... He chose us … ” to themselves. Yes, he did. You and the pile of $765 million sitting next to you, but yes. Juan Soto chose the Mets. 

As baseball’s rigid, poorly-greased wheel of fortune spins again, it’s Mets fans’ turn to be happy. We all know how it feels to be a fan of the club that just locked up a superstar. There’s three or four of them on the Phillies right now. Your steps feel a little lighter, your brain stops screaming for minutes at a time, and you feel like you’re starting the season with a 10-game lead in the standings. 

And the Mets might do just that. Last postseason, the Mets looked just as set up to win a series as the Phillies — only they were able to execute on that plan. The Phillies have gotten three swings at a World Series title since 2022, each with as poor an ending as individual Phillies at-bats in the playoffs. Watching the Phillies in the playoffs has been a lot like watching the Phillies in the playoffs, you could say. If you’ve gone insane. Which many have.  

The landscape of the National League has shifted and the Phillies will face more and better-equipped challengers for the thing they’ve been trying to do since signing Bryce Harper in 2019. The Mets made their move, and it’s time for any team who takes themselves seriously to make their countermove. The MLB Winter Meetings will see at least a few of them do so. Of course, being ignorant of the Phillies plans, they could be about to make their move any time. All we can do is watch and hope and think about how Juan Soto’s new salary is the exact same amount the NFL paid in 2013 as a settlement for their concussion lawsuit.

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