The Washington Nationals are willing to listen to trade offers for their star outfielder Juan Soto, after he said no thanks to their most recent long-term offer, league sources confirmed to ESPN on Saturday.
Sources said Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million deal that would have been the largest contract in baseball history.
In an interview, Soto told ESPN earlier this year that he had declined a 13-year, $350 million offer before the offseason lockout. He is set to become a free agent after the 2024 campaign.
But according to The Athletic, who first reported on the most recent rejected contract offer and the Nationals being open to listening to potential trades, people close to the situation no longer believe that Washington will be able to reach any long-term deal with Soto.
If Soto were to think about accepting long term security from the ballclub, it would have a significant number of years as well as an average annual value among the highest in the sport, sources told ESPN. The $29.3 million per year in the Nationals’ offer would rank only 15th among players based on their 2022 salaries.
The decision to entertain potential trades for Soto represents a change of plans for the Nationals, after president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo said in June that the organization would not trade the 23-year-old star.
“We are not trading Juan Soto,” Rizzo told 106.7 The Fan on June 1. “We made it clear to his agent and to the player.”
The expected haul in a Soto trade would jump-start a Nationals rebuild. They are 32 games under .500, sitting in the cellar in the National League East by 14 ½ games and are facing the very real possibility of having a third consecutive losing season after winning the World Series in 2019 against the Houston Astros.
Another problem affecting Soto’s future in the nation’s capital is the potential sell of the franchise by the Lerner family, who have owned the team since 2006. The Lerners said at the beginning of the season that they are looking into the possibility of selling the Nationals and had hired a firm to locate potential investors to buy part or all of the franchise.
Named an All-Star for the second straight season, Soto has a career-low batting average of .247 in 2022 with 19 home runs and 42 RBIs in 89 games. He is going to take part in Monday’s Home Run Derby at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.
The MLB trade deadline is August 2.
