Last weekend, a shocker was sent through baseball: Washington citizens Genius Juan Soto recently rejected a 15-year extension worth $440 million, As a result, the club will host commercial shows. Soto is on the very short list of the game’s best players and can’t become a free agent until after 2024. Players like this are rarely available.
Earlier this year, national general manager Mike Rizzo said the club would not trade with Soto, and that they intended to build around him going forward. This is what Rizzo said during a radio interview:
“We do not trade with Juan Soto. We have made it clear to his agent and to the player… We have every intention of building this team around Juan Soto. We have spoken to his agent many times – recently I sat down with him when he was in Washington DC, and he explained to him that we were not interested in trading him, And I think the rest of the world doesn’t believe it. But that’s where we stand.”
Obviously, things have changed. The Nationals lost 97 games a year ago and has the worst baseball record this year. At the very least, Rizzo and his staff should be willing to listen to Soto’s offers, especially since his long-term signing has proven difficult. It never hurts to listen and Rizzo won’t do his job if he doesn’t consider all the possibilities.
On Monday afternoon, Soto, who represents Washington at the All-Star Game, spoke with reporters for the first time since word got out that the citizens will be receiving trade shows. He doesn’t seem happy with his name now appearing in trade rumors a month after Rizzo said the team plans to keep him.
“Two weeks ago, they were saying they would never trade me,” Soto said Monday.video). “And now it’s all showing up. It feels really uncomfortable. You don’t know what to trust. At the end of the day, the decision they make is no longer up to me.”
Soto, who is still only 23, hits .240/.405/.497 with 79 walks and 54 hitters in what could be considered a touchdown season for him. There is a precedent for a player this good and this young man is being traded: Miguel Cabrera. The Marlins Traded the 24-year-old Cabrera to tigers When he was away from free agency for two years in December 2007.
Given how good he is, how young he is and how long he has been under the control of the team, The other 29 teams are all number to verify Soto. The question is what team can increase the prospects, and will the citizens seek to dump some bad money (like Patrick Corbyn’s contract) into the trade? The deadline for trade is two weeks and one day.
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