Buster Olney Just Reported That If The Nats And Juan Soto Don't Come To An Agreement In The Next Two Weeks, He Will Be Traded Before The August 2nd Deadline

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We're just 48 hours removed from news that superstar outfielder Juan Soto rejected the Nationals 15 year $440 million contract offer. That report was met with the possibility of the Nats trading their superstar, but no one knew if that meant right now or in the offseason. You'd imagine a deal of this magnitude and the bidding war it's going to create would take to sort out. You also have to factor in the new ownership on the year which certainly adds to the story. Well, as we get closer and closer to the trade deadline on August 2nd it's becoming more of a reality that Soto is going to be switching teams in the next few weeks. 

If you ask me, it seems pretty unlikely the Nats recover enough from here to convince Soto to stay. Read a few of these tweets from Nats beat reporter Jesse Dougherty. 

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And there's this from today

Why would Soto agree to anything now? Almost seems impossible, right? Are the Nats really going to up the AAV from $29 mill to the $36 mill range? Does Soto even wanna stay regardless of the dollar amount after all this bullshit? I don't see how this gets put back together and if that means he's gone now then holy fuck. 

Buster mentions the Padres as being extremely motivated and all of that makes perfect sense. They're always aggressive with dealing top prospects and handing out the reckless money necessary to contend. With Tatis out for who knows how long and the offense in need of some life, why not go nuts for Soto? They've got three top 100 chips to deal in Robert Hassell III, Luis Campusano, and James Wood. I'm sure they'd happily make a guy like C.J. Abrams available as well. Do they dangle MacKenzie Gore as well? If it's going to be a Hershel Walker type deal then that might be the case. 

Goodness, a heart of the order that includes Fernando, Soto, and Machado down the stretch is plain old silly. Buster mentions the Rangers, but I don't see it personally. Surely the Yankees and Dodgers could always get involved with their resources, especially for a 23 year old superstar with two more years of team control.  It would be stupid for any team in baseball to not pick up the phone and give Rizzo a call. That's called doing your job as a GM. These next few weeks could be absolutely insane if the Nats really go through with this. 

Oh and Soto is in the derby tonight just to add to even more of the drama. Getcha popcorn.