The Boys of Summer

It’s July, and my last blog was about basketball. Sorry about that, guys, I know July and August are dedicated to baseball. So here’s some baseball.

Let’s talk about Juan Soto.

If you don’t know, Juan Soto just declined to sign a 15-year, $440 million with the Washington Nationals. Who could blame him? It’s the Nationals. The Nationals are, by average age, the oldest team in baseball. Unfortunately for the District of Columbia, the Nationals are also one of the worst teams in baseball.

Well, the Juan Soto sweepstakes can begin. It’s clear Washington wants to get younger, and what better way to do that than to trade a generational talent for teenagers that are good at baseball. Every team’s fan base is begging management for this superstar. The big guns, such as the Yankees, Dodgers, and Mets look like the front runners.

The Dodgers can throw their farm system at the Nationals (which, somehow is really good) and not give up a single player in the majors. The one must for the Dodgers to give up is Bobby Miller and Andy Pages. Sorry for going on a little tangent here but I have to. The Dodgers have a really good farm system, but most of their prospects are 22 years old or older, which is not suitable for any farm system. The reason for this is that the MLB team is so good that the prospects are being blocked from going up in every position. This is perfect for the Dodgers because they can trade their good prospects for even more good MLB players and build a super team. It might be wishful thinking but it could definitely happen. The Yankees would need to give up quite a lot, this would mean Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez, easily, plus more.

My only concern as a Mets fan is giving up Francisco Alvarez. He’s the best prospect in baseball (officially, he’s #2, but Riley Greene of the Detroit Tigers is about to graduate), and it looks all but certain the Nationals would want Alvarez in a deal for Soto. So, that’s where I draw the line if I was the GM. Take the farm, but don’t take Alvarez. Some other teams in the mix are the Padres and the Cardinals. For these two teams, getting Soto and giving up the farm shifts their perspective from “on the come-up” to “win immediately or we failed.”

Some teams that I haven’t seen are the bad ones. Like Baltimore, Arizona, Pittsburgh or Cleveland. These teams have the best farm systems because they’re the worst teams. So, to start going on the uphill slope, they should use their massive farm system and trade for Juan Soto. Shell out your best prospect and whatever else the Nationals ask for. A few stipulations for Baltimore and Pittsburgh: similar to the Mets and Alvarez, Baltimore and Pittsburgh shouldn’t trade Adley Rutschman or Oneil Cruz respectively.

Lastly, if the Tampa Bay Rays go out and acquire Juan Soto, the AL East would simply be unfair. The Tampa Bay Rays have an insane farm system, and they don’t have a right fielder. They could give up a lot of prospects for him, and now make the AL East even scarier.

I’m going to end this blog with a story. All-Star and Home Run Derby participant Juan Soto declined the massive proposed contract a few days before he needs to fly to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby. The Nationals forgot (or didn’t want to) charter a plane for Juan Soto, so he had to fly commercial and got to Los Angeles at 1:30 AM, five hours earlier than the Atlanta Braves players, as paraphrased from Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein.

Guess the Nationals took the rejection to heart. What did Soto do? Throw a chair before he left the room.

“How dare you not offer me $1 billion for 28 years, I’m Juan Soto!”

Nonetheless, a really, really classy move from a professional sports team in the United States.