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Most people who own a professional sports franchise have better things to do than respond to fans who send them an unsolicited email about a potential signing. However, Colorado Rockies head honcho Dick Monfort is not like most owners.
There isn’t a single player to hit free agency in the wake of the most recent MLB season who’s attracted more attention than Juan Soto, the outfielder who played an instrumental role in the Yankees making a run to the World Series during his first—and what may end up being his only—year in pinstripes.
The Bronx Bombers are reportedly still in contention in the Soto sweepstakes that’s also seen him meet with the Red Sox, Dodgers, Blue Jays, and Mets. There’s currently no firm timeline as far as his final decision is concerned, but it appears he’s slowly but surely narrowing down the list of teams who will have the chance to give him a contract that’s expected to exceed $600 million.
The Colorado Rockies haven’t been linked with the 26-year-old superstar, but that didn’t stop a fan named Kevin Larson from reaching out to Dick Monfort to see if there was any chance the franchise might throw its hat into the ring.
Monfort became a member of the Rockies ownership group in the 1990s and purchased a majority stake with his brother Charles in 2005 before taking the reins as CEO and chairman when his sibling opted to cede those positions in 2011. He’s presumably a pretty busy man, but that doesn’t mean he can’t occasionally make some time for the little guy .
Larson had previously pulled a similar move midway through the 2023 season when he sent an unsolicited email to Monfort to propose a potential rental trade for Shohei Ohtani and actually got a response from the heir to a meatpacking fortune who sent the reply from his iPad.
Thanks to Larson’s assertiveness, we can now confirm the Rockies will not be pursuing Soto, as Monfort opted to use his iPhone this time around while typing up the response where he noted the four-time All-Star has made it clear he’d prefer to remain on the East Coast after spending the past two seasons with the Yankees and Nationals.
I can confirm that the Colorado Rockies are indeed OUT in regards to the Juan Soto chase, but not for the reasons you’d expect pic.twitter.com/LdMzGTJV4c
— Kevin (Only Bo Nix can save us now) (@_Kevlar23_) December 5, 2024
Monfort isn’t exactly a universally beloved figure among Rockies fans (he found himself backpedaling after sending a slightly less polite email to a supporter in 2014) and his reputation for keeping payroll costs on the lower side is probably the biggest reason there was never a chance Soto was going to end up in Denver.
With that said, I have to respect his willingness to engage.