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WASHINGTON, DC — With four hours remaining before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline, the Padres added right fielder Juan Sotofirst baseman Josh Bell—and a dozen or so San Diego fans at Nationalsclub.
Soto, 23, spent an hour exchanging tears and goodbyes with members of the only organization he’s ever known, the organization he helped win the championship in 2019 and the organization that two months ago announced it wouldn’t trade him. One person after another sent the same message: Go win the World Series.
Catcher Tres Barrera, who was drafted a year after Soto signed as a 16-year-old from the Dominican Republic and interpreted for him at restaurants until Soto was taught English, told him to “win another ring.”
Correctly Eric Fedde, who smiled as an undersized 19-year-old Soto began to learn just how good he was, said, “Go hunting.” He added, “If I fight you, don’t hit me too hard. Singles, no homers.”
Coach Davey Martinez, who has spent weeks imagining life without the prodigy he considers “my son,” told him, “You go out there and make this team play you.”
Nationals manager Davey Martinez is left to pick up the pieces of a team that has lost its World Series-winning power in recent years.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
They were all devastated to see Soto go. They were also happy to see him play in games that mattered.
Sports fans should be too. It’s fun to see a superstar spend his entire career in one uniform. But how does this happen Mike Troutwho has appeared in exactly three playoff games, all losses, in 12 years with the Angelsand just diagnosed with a rare spinal injury?
The rest of the Gentiles understand this. Since that reality-defying sprint to the 2019 World Series title, Washington hasn’t had a winning season. Entered the season ranked 23rd in the farm system, according to MLB.com. The team is for sale. Soto can be a free agent after the ’24 season and last month turned down a $440 million, 15-year extension offer.
So, about six weeks after GM Mike Rizzo he said WJFK radio that he wouldn’t trade Soto, changed his mind.
“We felt like we couldn’t extend him,” Rizzo said Tuesday, his voice cracking at times. “And we felt that, right now, with two and a half years left, three playoff runs at Juan Soto’s disposal, he was never going to be more valuable than he is today.”
Rizzo wore his 2019 World Series ring at his press conference, he said, as a reminder of “what [the Nationals] we have done in the past and what we are going to do in the future.”
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That day is definitely years away. The Nationals received shortstop CJ Abrams, lefty MacKenzie Gore, first baseman Luke Voight and three top prospects, regarded in the industry as exceptionally strong performers. But on Tuesday, Martinez joked that he wasn’t sure he could compete on a team.
Juan Soto leaves behind a clubhouse full of former teammates who will be rooting for him from all over the country.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
Meanwhile, Soto and Bell will join a team of according to FanGraphs, 86% chance of making the playoffs. That number should have improved on Tuesday, when the Padres also acquired a solid utilityman Brandon Drury from Red and struck out the first baseman Eric Hosmer in the red socks, a day after he caught Josh Hader from the Brewers. The Dodgers they’re still the overwhelming favorite to win the division, and San Diego’s minor league teams may have to recruit fans from the stands, but the Padres should be fun to watch.
So does Soto. He seems to thrive on the biggest moments. Four innings later Star As third baseman Alex Bregman hit a home run and brought his bat to first base during Game 6 of the 2019 World Series, Soto did the same. Then he laughed. “Its very nice. I want to do it too,” Soto said. “That’s what I thought when I saw it. I have the opportunity and I do the same.”
He recently dropped the crotch grab from the dance he does after close-ups, but the gesture remains trademark enough that he now wears a necklace with a diamond-encrusted version of the Soto Shuffle. There have been few such opportunities for relevance in Washington recently. A year ago at this time, the Nationals traded righty Max Scherzer and shortstop Trea Turner to the Dodgers. That October, with Washington long eliminated from contention, Soto appeared in the wild-card game at Dodger Stadium, wearing a Turner Nationals jersey and pitching for LA.
He makes even more of a statement with his playing. He has hit 119 home runs in five seasons and has a career OPS+ of 160. Only four players have been better in the age-23 season: Ted Williams (190), Ty Cobb (171), Trout (169) and Albert Pujols (165 ). Twenty players named to the Futures Game roster are older than him.
“His writers are Hall of Famers,” reliever Sean Doolittle said. “Like, there’s no competition for him. It is total [different] level. I feel really lucky to have been his teammate for a few years. Well, he’s that good. I feel lucky to have watched him play on a daily basis.”
But the last few weeks have worn Soto. Post The Athlete mentionted that Soto had declined the extension offer, a relief Sean Doolittle he said, “You could see he was carrying it a little.” Soto usually walks into the club, beaming and chatting with anyone who sees him. But that day, Doolittle said, Soto sat stoned in his locker. DH Nelson Cruz said Soto was beginning to wonder what to do with the house he bought in Washington. Barrera said he looked tired. So, as happy as they are that Soto landed a contender, teammates said, they were even happier that he stopped thinking about where he’ll live.
At times those close to Soto spoke as if he had died. “The hardest thing about Juan is that he was so young,” Martinez said.
An air of perfection filled Nationals Park on Tuesday as the team prepared to face it Mets. Soto and Bell said their goodbyes around 1:00 PM and went home to pack. The club’s employees piled up their belongings. “You’re too late,” center fielder Victor Robles said when the locker room opened to reporters shortly after 3. “They’re gone.”
Indeed, only Soto’s likeness remained, on the banner overlooking center field, the clubhouse hallway mural celebrating the 2019 World Series victory, and the Star Wars-themed JUAN SOLO bobbleheads in his teammates’ lockers. His former teammates will see him play up close again in 10 days when the Nationals host the Padres, and again a week later when they visit Petco Park. After that, they will have to buy tickets for games in October.
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