Red Sox Signing Juan Soto Could Come With These Disadvantages

The Red Sox should do everything in their power to sign Juan Soto.

It’s important that we get that out of the way because without making our stance abundantly clear, we’d have people down in the comments talking about how dumb we are.

Boston would immediately launch itself back into contention by making that one move — no matter how much money it might cost, or the log jam it might produce, or how many other needs the club might have. Soto is a generational talent, and when you have an opportunity to sign a generational talent, you sign the generational talent.

Soto just happens to come with a couple of red flags, which is why we’re going to play devil’s advocate for a moment and mention them:

BIG FAT BILLS
Soto’s salary for the next decade is going to be a hard pill to swallow, though it doesn’t need to be said that the teams in the bidding for him ostensibly don’t care about overage penalties that will come with exceeding the tax line.

The Red Sox likely aren’t going to be able to defer any money, though, which means the tax bill could exceed $50 million at its highest point. Boston shouldn’t have any trouble paying that, but when a couple of the youngsters (Triston Casas, Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, Kyle Teel and Marcelo Mayer) eventually need to get paid, already having multiple mega-deals on the books could cause some second-guessing.

HOW LONG DOES HE HAVE LEFT?
No, we’re not talking about time left on the planet. We just wonder how long you could feasibly stick him in right field at Fenway Park.

Soto is far from a generational glove, and, honestly, is a substandard defender who might have to make the move to the designated hitter role before long. The Red Sox could stick him in left field, but even that might cause some problems. Soto and Devers will both be full-time hitters within the next six or seven years. and while that might seem too far away to worry about, it’s a very real thing.

HEAVY ON LEFTIES
Boston has a lineup full of left-handed bats, and adding another isn’t necessarily the way you’d expect them to do things.

Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers, Triston Casas, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida are currently your best hitters, and they all bat from the left side. Marcelo Mayer, Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony are top prospects, and they all bat from the left side.

The Red Sox would just figure it out, but let’s not act like building a lineup full of left-handed hitters to play at Fenway Park is the greatest process of all time.