First off, happy 26th birthday and feliz cumpleaños to Juan Soto — and good luck in the World Series. While the Washington Nationals did not trade Soto directly to the Bronx Bombers, they traded him to San Diego, and the Padres flipped him to New York. By extension, the Nats made it possible for Soto to land in Yankee Stadium.
By trading Soto, the Nats didn’t repeat the mistake they made in 2018 by wishing on a star that Bryce Harper would stay with the team that originally signed and developed him. All of Harper’s perfusive love for D.C. guaranteed nothing. Wishful thinking with the heart rarely works when you’re talking $100’s of millions.
When general manager Mike Rizzo made a reversal of courses and traded Juan Soto, a little over two years ago, Riz saw the future and made the absolute right move. Second guessing him is commonplace for all of the armchair quarterbacks in the cheap seats, although not one has given a detailed plan that made sense except the retort, “Pay the man.” Well, they tried, as the team offered a sum with Soto’s previous earnings that would have topped more money than Ted Lerner paid to buy the Washington Nationals in 2006.
Sure, Rizzo and the Lerner ownership group were viciously criticized for trading Soto — and some are still crowing about this. In my opinion, Rizzo was right then and now — Soto was traversing his road to free agency no matter what record-setting offer was made to him. Okay, he would probably take no deferrals on $750 million today — but the Yankees aren’t doing that. They might follow the same script that snagged Arson Aaron Judge away from San Francisco.
There is no time machine where Biff can go back in the DeLorean and win a fortune by knowing the future. You make your decision based on what you knew at the time. While Rizzo might want a do-over on other deals, he said that he can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Remember, Rizzo is the only GM in the four major sports in Washington, D.C. with a championship trophy as a GM.
So when Monument Sports’ Ted Leonsis was quoted today in an exclusive in the Washington Post trying to play the hero — it shows what type of person he is. He actually said, “My priority would be, we will never lose a great player for money. We have those resources. Look at who the Nationals have lost, MVP-quality players, in their prime, young. I understand why — they’re rebuilding the team, and they’ll be really good soon. But that hurts the fans. … If we owned the Nationals, we would have the resources to not have that happen, if that’s what the GM says.” Well, the GM (Rizzo) said to trade Soto. And then in the next breath, Leonsis says, “I have a lot of respect for [the Lerners].” Wow, you have a funny way of showing it. Mark Lerner is your partner in Monumental. It’s incredibly disrespectful.
From uptown, it’s easy to say what you would do like a round of fantasy football, and in reality very hard to do. Because baseball players have full control of their future per the CBA, you cannot force a player to stay. They can’t be franchise-tagged like the NFL, or signed to a max deal like in the NBA, or stuck like Alexander Ovechkin in a sport that is so far behind in salaries versus the other three major sports that Ovechkin maxed out at $12.5 million as his top salary for one year. Soto made more than that in his 3rd full season with the Nationals. Smoke and mirrors might work with some like these political commercials we see on TV this time of year. What did Leonsis think he had to gain by that rant?
For those who don’t remember, the Lerner ownership group had authorized an offer to Soto just below Mike Trout‘s deal in June of 2022 that was rejected. Per sources, there seemed to be a line of demarcation that they would not go above Trout’s deal as he was the best player in baseball with three MVPs. But Trout didn’t have Scott Boras as his agent.
Reportedly, the Nats came back in July 2022 with a $440 million deal with NO deferrals — a record-setting offer in MLB above Trout’s deal. Fully guaranteed. Sources at the time told us that was not the team’s best and final offer (BAFO) — so there was room to negotiate the final dollars above $440 million and terms to go higher on the AAV as Soto was just 23 at the time. But Soto’s side never countered per our sources. Maybe the numbers would have gone much higher, however there were some concern about Soto’s game, and people forget, Soto was looking weak on defense in 2022, and he was having his worst season at the plate.
The Nats were 35-69 with Soto at the time he was traded. They certainly weren’t winning with him, and the future looked bleaker as the team was a year into the rebuild. How can you build around Soto when he wouldn’t commit to staying long-term? Even Leonsis couldn’t answer that one unless he would guarantee endless money to buy championships because the farm system had nothing but question marks at the time. How has endless money worked out for the Mets and Stevie Cohen? How did it work out for the Angels when they had Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon and never made the postseason. Does Leonsis understand how to win in sports? It’s not about collecting MVP-quality players — it’s about actually winning championships.
No revisionist history here. When the Nats were discussing a contract extension with Soto, his stats were dropping below his weight. He was batting just .214 in the final week of June 2022, with a .796 OPS. His defense was the worst in the NL at the time for right-fielders. Of course Soto’s final 24-games in a Nats’ uni, he went en fuego and batted .324 with a 1.177 OPS, but statistically, 2022 was the worst season in Soto’s great career.
With talks that broke off between Rizzo and Boras, the Nats got that clear vision that Soto was not going to sign — no matter what the offer was. The bigger risk was that Soto would head to free agency regardless, and that would create the Harper situation again. They made the gut-wrenching decision to trade Soto for an entire youth movement.
Here’s the thing: the Nats now have James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, and Jarlin Susana on their roster and a 2019 World Series thanks to Soto.
The Soto trade has been compared as the Herschel Walker trade of baseball. Once Soto’s free agency is official, the Nats stand on nearly equal ground with the other 29 teams that can bid on him. The only difference is that any team (except the Yankees) that acquires Soto will forfeit, at most, their 2nd draft pick as a penalty as well as $500,000 from its international bonus pool for the upcoming signing period.
While Vegas lines have the Nats currently in the top-half of teams to acquire Soto, most think Soto will stay in New York City with either the Yankees or Mets. But really, who knows? Here’s the thing, how is this situation any different from the scenario if Soto was still in a Nats’ uniform? You couldn’t force Soto to stay with the Nats in 2022, 2023, or now. If Soto stayed, there wouldn’t be Wood, Abrams, Gore, Hassell or Susana. There were too many holes in the Nats’ roster, and the farm system was nearly decimated. At least when Harper departed, the Nats were set in the outfield with Soto, Victor Robles and Adam Eaton with visions of a World Series.
Until baseball comes up with a player retention program, the Braves will lose superstars like Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers will lose Max Scherzer, and the Yankees might lose Soto. Yes Ted, the fans lose all the time — and most fans understand it is a business not servitude. That is why they call it free agency in baseball. You can brag about your two big conquests about keeping Bradley Beal and John Wall under the NBA’s max contract clause. Remind us how those two deals ended? Yep, easier said than done.
Speaking with the New York Post, Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner claimed his team can’t sustain its record-high payroll this season:
“I’m gonna be honest, payrolls at the levels we’re at right now are simply not sustainable for us financially. It wouldn’t be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership [groups], given the luxury tax we have to pay.’’
Expect more back-and-forth, and some “I told you so” on Soto for years to come. If Soto signs with the Nats in free agency, a long-shot, it will be the absolute greatest play of 4-D chess in sports history. No matter what happens, the Nats made the best decision at the time. Again, you might not agree with that, so tell us your plan.
