Juan Soto is available.
The All-Star gardener recently turned down an offer from the Washington Nationals that would have made him the highest paid player in baseball history, and the team now plans to receive commercial offers for him, a seismic development that will lead to the deadline is August 2nd. .
Soto, 23, turned down a 15-year, $ 440 million offer, according to sources. The proposal, the third for the Nationals in recent months, did not include any deferred money, a deviation from the team’s usual practice. The two largest guarantees in the club’s history, $ 245 million for right-hander Stephen Strasburg and $ 210 million for right-hander Max Scherzer, included significant deferrals, reducing current bid values.
The Nationals’ offer exceeded in total dollars the 12-year, $ 426.5 million contract that Mike Trout signed with the Angels in March 2019. Soto would have received an average salary of $ 29.33 million, the 20th highest in baseball history, with the deal extending from his 24- to 38-year seasons, making him effectively a national for the rest of his career.
Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, however, generally prefers that his clients set their values in the marketplace. Soto is on his way to becoming a free agent entering his 26-year season, and could possibly seek a more than $ 500 million deal. Boras was not immediately available for comment.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told Fan 1, a Washington DC radio station, on June 1 at 106.7 that the team would not switch to Soto before the deadline. Instead, Rizzo said, the team wanted to make Soto the centerpiece of its rebuilding plan.
“We are not negotiating with Juan Soto,” Rizzo said. “We made it clear to his agent (Boras) and the player. … We have every intention of building this team around Juan Soto ”.
Soto’s $ 440 million rejection, however, altered the equation, sources said, and led club officials to believe that if they can’t sign him for that money, they will never do so. Nationals see their exploration of a Soto trade as a due diligence. He is under club control for the rest of this season and then two more. The team does not need to change it immediately if it does not receive the desired offer.
Soto, batting .247 with 19 homers and an OPS of .895, has a performance below his usual levels, but it got hot in July.
Any team that purchased it would control it for three pennant races. This number will decrease to two once the term expires, lowering its future commercial value. Soto, who earns $ 17.1 million, is also likely to receive significant increases in his last two years of salary arbitration.
The prospective sale of the Nationals, owned by the Lerner family since 2006, is another factor in the team’s approach to Soto. As the Lerners were considering selling the equipment, they wanted to clarify their position with Soto for potential buyers. Soto is an asset, but not if his contract is so big that it would make it difficult to build the Nationals around him.
The Nationals (32-60) have the worst record of the majors. Soto’s trade would be a way to replenish his exhausted farming system, which Keith Law of The Athletic ranked 27th out of 30 major league franchises.
(Photo: Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post via Getty Images)