John Middleton, managing partner of the Philadelphia Phillies, said that he believes free agent Juan Soto has a desire to remain in New York during an appearance at Penn on Friday, adding that he expects the Phillies to “probably not win” the sweepstakes to sign the star outfielder.
The principal owner of the Phillies spoke at the Wharton Sports Business Summit in Huntsman Hall. As the closing keynote speaker at a star-studded conference, Middleton took time to speak about the business future of the Phillies to an audience of Penn alumni and students.
Middleton has been the control person for the Phillies since 2016. According to his biography, he has aimed to “set the franchise on course to contend for world championships and to preserve the club’s reputation as a world-class organization both on and off the field.” Coming off a season where the Phillies won the second-most games in the MLB but failed to win a playoff series, Middleton has plenty to consider this offseason.
“Great organizations consistently put really good teams on the field and compete for the postseason and regular season on a regular basis,” Middleton said. “The difference between getting into the postseason and winning the World Series is luck.”
Middleton has recently sold a partial stake of the Phillies to three other investors ahead of a major offseason in which the Broad Street Bombers may look to make a pricey splash in free agency. Despite this, Middleton attests that the decision was based on personal finances, not for spending on big names like free-agent outfielder Juan Soto, who hit 41 home runs as a member of the New York Yankees last season.
“Signing Juan Soto — whoever signs him, their odds get better,” Middleton said. “… In COVID[-19] we lost over $200 million. My desire to get my trophy back has made me lose a lot of money. … Our tab is $750 million, and my wife said, 'You are not spending three quarters of a billion dollars on the Phillies,' and that was that.”
Delving deeper into his thought process, Middleton is aware of the disadvantage that teams have when competing against other teams’ geography.
“We made a substantially greater offer than the Dodgers did for [pitcher Yoshinobu] Yamamoto last year. He took their offer, turned away from us, gave up tens of tens of millions of dollars,” Middleton said. “… I’m afraid Juan Soto wants to be in New York, and I don’t mind being a stalking horse … but I get the feeling, we’ll probably say, you know what, we’ll probably not win this.”
Middleton reports that Dave Dombrowski, the president of baseball operations for the Phillies, wants to spend more money on other expenses, such as Citizens Bank Park and the team’s Single-A facilities in Clearwater, Fla. The latter is also home to two former Penn baseball players, recent graduates Eli Trop and Ryan Dromboski, who are both currently in the franchise’s farm system.
Just before Middleton was set to speak, the Phillies announced that Vice President and General Manager Sam Fuld, who will graduate with his MBA from the Wharton School of Business in May of 2026, will transition to president of business operations.
“The upper mobility is limited,” Middleton said. “Cherry picking good people, and we’ve frankly had other teams asking about [Fuld] for years.”
The conference also featured other high-profile guests, including boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Fanduel executive Waleed Chaudhry, and Deputy General Counsel for the WNBA Jachele Vélez, among others.
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