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.
