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With the trade deadline less than a week away, all of the buzz still seems to be around where Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto is going to land, and rightfully so. The young phenom has a career slash line of .291/.426/.539, with 118 home runs and 357 runs batted in. He has also walked more than he has struck out in his career, 456 to 411. Already a two-time All-Star and 2019 World Series champion, the game has never seen a player of this caliber and age (23) available on the trade market.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo was on Junks Radio and made it clear that the team will not prioritize adding bloated contracts such as Patrick Corbin‘s remaining $70.9M or perhaps Stephen Strasburg‘s remaining $140M after this season.
Soto is currently slashing .245/.401/.485 with 20 home runs and 45 runs batted in. Metsmerized’s Johnluke Chaparro has readers covered with his Soto trade profile.
Corbin is struggling this season, pitching to a 6.02 ERA and 4.60 FIP. No longer a front-of-the-rotation starter, Corbin could give teams innings at the back of the rotation or even work as a lefty out of a team’s bullpen by the time October rolls around. However, it does not seem like, as of now, Rizzo has any plans to include the 33-year-old lefty in talks.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post was recently on the Big Time Baseball podcast and told listeners that he believes there are a handful of frontrunners for the young slugger’s services. “I think Cardinals, Padres, probably the Dodgers are probably the more likely candidates to land Soto,” Heyman said. Last week, it was reported that the Mets are also believed to be one of the many teams interested in acquiring Soto.
The Nationals will be receiving many more phone calls as the deadline nears. As MLB analyst and insider Jim Bowden said, It is expected that the Nationals, if Soto is indeed traded, will receive the most significant prospect return in baseball, if not sports history.
