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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN editor
LOS ANGELES– Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said in early June that he would not negotiate Juan Soto, despite speculation to the contrary. Now, with the trade deadline approaching in just over two weeks, that mindset has clearly changed. And Soto is still dealing with it.
“It’s really uncomfortable,” Soto said. “You don’t know what to trust. But at the end of the day, the decision they make is not up to me.”
Soto spoke about All-Star Game media availability Monday afternoon, a day after reports surfaced that the Nationals were exploring trade possibilities after Soto rejected a 15-year, $440 million extension offer . The deal, first reported by The Athletic, featured the highest total value in baseball history but an average annual value of $29.3 million, surpassed by the contracts of 15 current players.
The value ultimately wasn’t enough for Soto, who, according to a source close to the process, was also hesitant to commit long-term to an organization undergoing a potential change in ownership and navigating what promises to be a prolonged rebuild. Soto, flanked by agent Scott Boras, answered questions on the subject – in English and Spanish – for about 45 minutes before Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic. He expressed his disappointment but also stressed the importance of staying focused.
Asked if trade negotiations had made his job more difficult, Soto, 23, said: “Here and there, you know. But you can’t blame that on your stats or anything you can do on the field. day, I just try to forget everything that’s going on outside for three hours, and I try to be the 12 year old that I was, play baseball as hard as I can and enjoy it as much as possible.
Soto established himself as one of the best pure hitters in baseball history early in his career, a reincarnation of Ted Williams. Since his debut in 2018, Soto has hit .293/.427/.541 with 118 home runs and a major league-leading 452 walks. He makes $17.1 million in 2022, with two more years of arbitration before hitting the market at age 26 – an extremely young age for a player of his caliber.
The possibility of acquiring Soto via trade before the Aug. 2 deadline has baseball fans mesmerized and executives salivating, but Soto himself doesn’t necessarily share that enthusiasm.
“Pretty frustrating,” he said of reports of a potential trade just before his second All-Star Game appearance. “I try to keep my stuff private and not give it out. It’s really unpleasant. But at the end of the day, we just have to keep playing. No matter what happens.”
The Nationals won the World Series in 2019, but quickly went on a downward spiral after that. Anthony Rendon left via free agency later this offseason, Max Scherzer And Trea Turner were traded last summer, and Stephen Strasburg And Patrick Corbin have struggled to meet their inflated contracts. Heading into the All-Star break, the Nats held the worst winning percentage and worst run differential in the sport, even though Soto managed a 1.430 OPS in July. Last April, the Washington Post reported that the Lerner family was considering a potential sale of the franchise after 16 years of ownership, a circumstance that likely prompted the front office to become more aggressive in its extension offer to Soto – the third offer public. Already.
Going forward, Soto would like to set a deadline for opening day of negotiations.
“I would love to do that because it’s very difficult, with all that, and then try to put together a winning team while dealing with a bunch of other things,” Soto said. “I’m going to talk to my people to see what we can do about it.”
