Washington Nationals Listed Among Top Fits for Reunion with Juan Soto
It was a key International Amateur free agency signing on July 2, 2015, that helped lead the Washington Nationals to the first World Series Championship in franchise history just four years later, and it could be a key reunion through free agency that helps kickstart the end of their current rebuild and the beginning of their contention window.
Just three seasons after winning the 2019 World Series, the Nationals traded superstar outfielder Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres after failing to come to an agreement on a 15-year, $440 million extension.
Now, it will take a much larger contract to sway the free agent into coming to Washington over the many other suitors vying for his services.
"Of the six players Washington received in the Soto trade, three are on their major league roster — CJ Abrams, James Wood and MacKenzie Gore — and Robert Hassell III is almost there," writes Stephen J. Nesbitt in a recent article for The Athletic, "by re-acquiring Soto, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo would accelerate the team’s timeline to contention in a difficult NL East, putting together an incomplete yet compelling lineup featuring Soto, Abrams, Wood, Dylan Crews, Luis García Jr. and Keibert Ruiz."
It would be the coup of the offseason, as while certainly no one is counting Washington out completely in the Soto Sweepstakes, there are quite a few other teams that are far more likely to sign the superstar.
But, when you think about it, the fit is there with the comfortability and familiarity of the club and the city as the first 4.5 seasons of his Major League career were spent with the organization.
In that time, Soto batted .291/.427/.538 with 119 home runs, 358 RBI, and a 159 OPS+ across 2,439 plate appearances in 565 games.
The superstar finished as the runner-up for both the National League Rookie of the Year Award (2019) and the National League MVP (2021) during his time with the Nationals, as well as being named an All-Star twice and earning three Silver Sluggers.
Soto has proven to be comfortable hitting in Nationals Park, as well, carrying a .292/.435/.523 line with 50 home runs and 178 RBI across 1,249 plate appearances in 297 games played at that park.
It is easy to forget about Washington as a potential landing place for Juan Soto through free agency this winter, but the fit is there, and trading the superstar for a plethora of prospects that have worked out just to bring him back in free agency could be seen as one of the biggest and best moves ever made in MLB.
