THE Philadelphia Phillies enter the offseason with the clear and demonstrated knowledge that the roster as currently constructed is not good enough to win a World Series.

After surpassing its last two postseasons by making the World Series in 2022 and returning to the NLCS last year, Philadelphia had its best regular season and first division title since 2011 and entered the playoffs with high hopes of finishing the job. Instead, the Phillies were dominated in four games by the New York Mets in a series where the bats died and the bullpen imploded.

Despite having like Dave Dombrowski said “more stars than anyone in baseball,” it always felt like the team was a piece or two away from having what it needed to win a title.

While Dombrowski the comments did not inspire hope that Philadelphia would go out of its way to pursue a player with star power and the expected contract of Juan Sotohe said the team would be more than willing to spend on the right player and many continued to link the ballclub to Soto. In their recent article, The Athletic in detail how Philadelphia could fit Soto into its lineup if the team pulled the trigger on bringing in the superstar.

“There is no more ‘right’ player than Soto, who could bring another massive bat to a powerful Phillies order. Signing Soto, however, would require a certain level of creativity,” wrote Cody Stavenhagen. “Philadelphia has already challenged the likes of Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber defensively and no batting DH to spare. But Soto has ties to Schwarber, Trea Turner and hitting coach Kevin Long. The complications here make the Phillies appear to be a long shot, but rolling and negotiating in search of a star player has long been Dave Dombrowski’s specialty.

Given the connection to current Phillies players and the fact that Philadelphia always has money to spend, bring in Soto makes a lot of sense. He’s the kind of player every team wants in their lineup and is arguably already the best hitter in baseball without even hitting his prime at just 26 years old.

Not only that, but Soto has proven that he do your best when the lights are brightest with the Yankees in the playoffs and with the Nationals during their 2019 World Series triumph. There’s no reason to think he isn’t worth every penny of the massive contract he’ll receive.

If the Phillies instantly want to make their roster the best and most intimidating in all of baseball — not to mention keep Soto away from the Mets — then doing whatever it takes to land the superstar makes a lot of sense.