Chicago Cubs Rumors: Reflecting on the price the Cubs should have paid for Juan Soto

What would a similar Cubs offer have looked like?

If we work under the assumption that the Cubs could have gotten on board with Juan Soto’s $31 million dollar 2024 salary as well as Trent Grisham’s $5.5 million this season then the Cubs would need to find a package that essentially equated to:

1. A really good top-50 prospect, preferably a pitcher (Thorpe)
2. A competent MLB-level starter/swing-man type with a little bit of upside (King)
3. A couple of high-floor/low-upside pitchers that are close to the majors (Brito and Vasquez)
4. A backup catcher who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat (Higashioka)

At the time of the initial article we wrote we threw out the idea of RHP Ben Brown, OF Kevin Alcantara, 1B Matt Mervis and a lower-level lottery ticket type player.

That being said, the Padres seemed to focus on players with a lower ceiling but also a greater chance to make it to the Majors in 2024 so some of those prospects wouldn’t match what they were looking for.

An updated offer would be RHP’s Cade Horton, Hayden Wesneski, Daniel Palencia, Michael Arias and catcher Yan Gomes. 

Cade Horton is perceived to be a better pitching prospect (17th to Thorpe’s 54th according to MLB Pipeline) and is closer to the Majors in Triple-A than Thorpe is in Double-A. 

Hayden Wesneski has a 2.80 ERA compared to Michael King’s 3.82 ERA this season and has more team control than King at a younger age. 

Brito and Vasquez are tough to quantify but Palencia and Arias have a significantly higher upside and greater K/9 potential than those two while maybe being one step further away from the majors. 

Finally, Yan Gomes would only be a slight downgrade from Higashioka with his .148/.176/.235 slash-line.