If you want to bring in Juan Soto, you better be prepared to give up a significant chunk of the farm.
A Soto trade has started to feel inevitable. The All-Star outfielder reportedly turned down a record-breaking contract extension offer from the Nationals, a sign that Soto isn’t all that interested in playing for Washington long term. The Nats obviously would like to keep Soto in house, but a silver lining in this situation is the potential trade return.
It doesn’t take a baseball expert to know that any interested team will need to send a hefty trade package to the nation’s capital in exchange for Soto. But in a column published Sunday, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman dove into the specifics about what Soto figures to command on the trade market.
“Early unconfirmed speculation is that the Nats would request a team’s top four prospects and/or young major leaguers and perhaps a willingness to take Patrick Corbin’s bloated contract,” Heyman wrote. “With this kind of player, almost anything in the ask should be considered fair game.”
Selling off several high-end assets would only be a portion of the work necessary in the process of acquiring Soto. The team that lands him then would have to pay the 23-year-old, who’s arbitration-eligible for two more years, and don’t be surprised if the price on that impending contract creeps up closer to $500 million.
