Bill Plaschke's ridiculous Juan Soto take will baffle Dodgers fans

On Tuesday, the Dodgers reportedly met with Juan Soto, the offseason's top free agent, despite insiders initially being split on how serious LA's pursuit of Soto would be. More reports suggested that these meetings — which Soto also took with the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Mets, and Yankees — were of a get-to-know-you variety, and contract details weren't involved in the discussions.

Soto's clearly casting a wide net right now, and the Dodgers very well may be eliminated from consideration as he narrows down his options. However, it's a starting point that could also end up with Soto joining the top of LA's star-studded lineup.

With Mookie Betts moving back to the infield, there's really no reason for Dodgers fans not to want Soto to come to LA. They can still re-sign Teoscar Hernández; after all, there's still an open corner outfield spot, and if they're willing to throw $600 million+ at Soto, it feels unlikely they'd balk at spending a fraction of that on Hernández as well.

However, Bill Plaschke is wary of the Dodgers' Soto chase. In a column for the LA Times unsubtly titled "No Soto!", Plaschke makes two main arguments. One is more of a plea to the Dodgers to keep the core together, and the other is plainly ridiculous — that Soto is too flamboyant to play in LA.

Bill Plaschke makes another ridiculous argument begging Dodgers not to sign Juan Soto

We'll start with the second argument and work backwards. Soto, a guy who's coming off a season with the New York Yankees — a notoriously buttoned-up team that doesn't let their players grow beards — and was teammates with Jazz Chisholm in the Bronx is...too flamboyant for LA, a team that's brought back infamous live TV saboteur Kiké Hernández multiple times?

The Yankees' highest priority this offseason is re-signing Soto; the lives of some of their front office members might depend on it. The Dodgers do seem to like maintaining a certain level of classiness, but if those guys, the New York Yankees, are going to throw everything and the kitchen sink at a player to keep him, then it's hard to understand how he might be too flamboyant for the Dodgers.

The first argument isn't as ridiculous as the second, but Plaschke not only urges the Dodgers to re-sign (Teoscar) Hernández, but also Walker Buehler, Blake Treinen, and Kiké Hernández. If we're being realistic, only one of those players (Teoscar) seems like an absolute must-have for LA, maybe two if we want to count Treinen.

But keeping Buehler and Kiké, if it means not being able to get one of the best hitters in baseball? Sorry, but sentimentality and the occasional postseason heroic can only take one so far.

If Soto is willing to talk to the Dodgers, they should talk to him. Other than the fact that it still feels like a long shot for LA with both the Yankees and the Mets in the chase, it feels really hard to complain too much when getting Soto would mean tossing him into a lineup that already includes three MVPs.