The Citizens of Washington have set an outrageous price for teams that meet to get midfielder Juan Soto and the team is not willing to budge or try to find a midpoint, by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Rosenthal said that the Nationals have told teams there will be “top four to five young players” – whether it’s a prospect or a young diving athlete – in exchange for Soto.
Soto, 23 years old, is commercially available after being reported rejected $440 million expansion offer from Washington. The two-time All-Star has attracted interest from several teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals all asking for a deal, according to USA Today.
In this season, Soto leads the walking leagues and has a .250 / .403 / .494 cross. While those are career low numbers, Soto has the opportunity to join Frank Thomas and Wade Boggs as the only players in the last 60 years to start their MLB careers with a base percentage of over ,400 in each of their first five seasons.
That made Soto extremely valuable in the commercial market, but the teams didn’t want to part ways with so many promising young players. According to Jon Heyman of the New York PostBoth the Mets and the Yankees have said they won’t part ways with their top three leads, let alone four or five.
