Phillies’ John Middleton OK being a ‘stalking horse’ for Juan Soto, believes he wants to stay in New York

Phillies owner John Middleton is fine being a “stalking horse” in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, but he believes the top free agent available likely wants to stay in New York.

A four-time All-Star, Soto, 26, is a free agent after hitting 41 home runs this past season with the Yankees and is expected to command a contract of $500 million or more. He has said he is open to all 30 teams and will consider every offer, but the Yankees and Mets are believed to be the leaders.

» READ MORE: Agent Scott Boras makes a familiar pitch with Juan Soto. We’ll see if the Phillies truly join the pursuit.

“I’m afraid Juan Soto wants to be in New York, and I don’t mind being a stalking horse. At some point, if [Phillies president] Dave [Dombrowski] and I get that feeling, we’ll probably say, ‘You know what, we’re not going to win this’ because we’ve both been the stalking horse before,” Middleton said. “And if I were an agent, I would do it too. It’s perfectly good strategy. I mean, it’s smart. But at the end of the day, I just think he likes New York.”

Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, told reporters this week at the general managers’ meetings in San Antonio that his client is looking for an owner who is committed to winning championships over the next decade.

“It’s remarkable to think of a player from a very modest beginning, from the Dominican Republic, that all the monetary offerings that he’s received, that his focus was always, ‘I want to know who my owner is,” Boras told reporters. “I want to know that we’re going to be able to win. I’m going to commit my career to it, and I want the owner to commit his resources to it.’”

Middleton told The Inquirer earlier this month that he expects the Phillies payroll, which was the sixth-highest in baseball this past season, to increase in 2025. And “for the right player,” he would consider surpassing the third tax threshold ($281 million).

Dombrowski wouldn’t discuss Soto at the GM meetings, but reiterated a point he made earlier in the offseason: “Put it this way: Our ownership allows us to do a lot of things, but sometimes that’s not what you need. We have a lot of good star players on our team. You can read that as you wish.”

» READ MORE: Where have all the star center fielders gone? ‘Obvious’ position to fill Phillies’ needs lacks obvious solutions.

CNBC reported Friday that the Phillies raised almost $500 million in capital from three new investors in the ownership group. Will that help the Phillies go after Soto?

“We did it for financial flexibility, and [signing big free agents] is a form of that,” Middleton said. ”It’s not the only one, but it’s a form of financial flexibility. We can do that. We can do these facilities down in Clearwater [Fla.]. We can do some things up here in Citizens Bank Park, that’s kind of what we did it for.”