Juan Soto declines 15-year offer from Nationals, team willing to listen to trade proposals now

Juan Soto’s days in the National League East may be waning.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Saturday morning that the two-time All-Star has declined a 15-year/$440 million offer from the Washington Nationals, and the franchise is now willing to listen to trade offers on him.

$440 million would have been the largest total deal in MLB history, passing the $426.5 million that the Los Angeles Angels are paying Mike Trout in his current contract. However, Trout’s deal was signed in March of 2019 and guarantees him $35.5 million per season. More than three years later, Soto would have been signing a longer deal that guaranteed him $29.3 million per season. And while the deal didn’t include deferrals, Jon Heyman of Audacy Sports hears that the offer included “heavy backloading.”

Of course, $440 million is a staggering amount of money to turn down. But Soto is good enough that he probably will be able to secure a higher average annual value over a deal still 10 years or longer.

The Nationals certainly don’t have to trade Soto before the Aug. 2 trade deadline, though if there’s a belief that this is the best offer ownership is prepared to make, his value will only decrease as he gets closer to free agency. Still only 23, Soto can become a free agent after the 2025 season.

Washington allowed Bryce Harper to leave in free agency to join the Phillies on a 13-year/$330 million deal after the 2018 season. Since they won the World Series in 2019, Anthony Rendon, Max Scherzer and Trea Turner have departed from the organization. Former World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg has hardly pitched. Patrick Corbin’s deal has become an albatross. As is, the Nationals are 30-62. It’s hard to imagine what the Nationals would look like if they traded Soto, Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz in the coming weeks.

In terms of what it will take to pry Soto away from the Nationals this summer, an anonymous general manager told Jeff Passan of ESPN that it would take a “Herschel Walker deal” to land Soto. The Dallas Cowboys traded Walker — at the time perhaps the best running back in the NFL — to the Minnesota Vikings for five players and six draft picks in October of 1989. The trade return set the Cowboys up to dominate the 1990s.

Like Walker at the time, Soto is a young superstar that’s performed at a Hall of Fame level early in his career. The difference here is that he doesn’t play a position like running back that wears you down. Perhaps he’ll some day become a liability in the outfield, but there’s no reason to think that Soto won’t be an elite hitter deep into his 30s.

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