John Middleton doesn’t expect the Phillies to end up with Juan Soto, but they’ll certainly try.

Speaking Friday at the Wharton Sports Business Summit at Penn, the Phillies’ principal owner discussed Soto and the Phillies’ willingness to spend.

“I’m afraid Juan Soto wants to be in New York, and I don’t mind being a stalking horse,” Middleton said, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian.

“…But I have a feeling we’ll probably say, you know what, we’re probably not going to win.”

The Phillies obviously have financial muscle, with two players under $300 million contracts and six with nine-figure contracts. They expect their franchise record payroll to increase again. They can offer Soto a ton of money on an annual and total basis, but so can his outgoing Yankees, so can the Mets, and so can a secondary team like the Blue Jays who missed out on Shohei Ohtani a year ago.

And it’s possible, even likely, that the Phillies are being used to drive up prices.

Soto is a transformative actor. He can turn a good lineup into a championship-caliber team like he did this season with the Yankees.

Unless Soto prefers to leave New York, it’s hard to see him leaving. Why would the Yankees allow this to happen after eight months of seeing the impact of his bat and presence? It’s not like they’re a mid-sized organization trying to sign a superstar in their prime, this is the Yankees, the franchise known for signing superstars from the teams they break into.

Losing Soto would be a major blow to the Yankees, to their ownership and to general manager Brian Cashman’s resume. They need to re-sign him as much as they needed to re-sign Aaron Judge two Decembers ago.

Some in the industry believe Soto’s contract could be as high as $600 million. The Phillies will spend to improve this winter, but will they really be able to surpass the Yankees’ top offer? Or Steve Cohen’s best deal?

“We made a significantly higher offer than the Dodgers did for (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto last year,” Middleton said. “He took their offer, turned away from us and gave up tens of tens of millions of dollars.”

It takes two to tango. But even though it’s unlikely, it’s worth a try for the Phillies. Introduce Juan Soto into the lineup and they would solve a multitude of problems with one move and likely become the World Series favorite. A team can dream…