Juan Soto
Let’s just tear off the Band-Aid. Juan Soto will not be on the Atlanta Braves after the trade deadline.
Even though it would be fantastic to see what would arguably be the best outfield in MLB with Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris already in the fold, there are just too many factors playing against this dream outfield becoming a reality.
First, now that it appears Juan Soto will be available, there could potentially be a massive bidding war for his services since he would clearly make any team better. This is not the type of player that Alex Anthopoulos typically targets.
As we have seen in Anthopoulos’ tenure with the Atlanta Braves, he typically targets players that are not on many radars. Last year’s deadline acquisitions are a good example. Not many people predicted a bidding war for players like Jorge Soler, who Anthopoulos was able to get cheap.
Next, the Braves have a terrible farm system, as stated earlier. Juan Soto would require a serious haul of top-tier prospects, which the Braves cannot provide.
If the Braves were to offer a trade that would pique the interest of the Nationals, it is virtually guaranteed that it would require high upside, controllable players already on the major league roster.
Making a trade that would involve players already on the Braves’ roster would be counterproductive for the Braves since they would be adding Juan Soto to win now.
If the Atlanta Braves were to add Juan Soto, they would most likely need to shed salary since they already have the highest payroll they have ever had. Juan Soto is owed the pro-rated amount of 17.1 million dollars this year.
The shedding of salary would most likely not be shed onto the Nationals because typically a team like the Braves would need to attach more prospects to lure the receiving team to take on the money. With other teams being able to offer better prospects, the odds of this happening is slim.
Finally, the reason that Juan Soto would be available is because he reportedly turned down a 15 yrs/$440M contract. Because of this, it is virtually guaranteed that the Braves would only have Soto for 2.5 years because the current front office for the Braves does not offer contracts of this size.
For reference, Matt Olson’s 8 yrs/$168M is the largest ever given out by the Atlanta Braves, which is nowhere close to what Soto is looking for when he hits free agency.
Of course, each of the variables against Soto being a Brave in and of itself is not enough to say Soto will not be traded to the Braves. But, adding all the variables together, it is virtually impossible.
Here’s to hoping for another crazy trade deadline for the Atlanta Braves. It is going to be fun to see how the front office handles the trade deadline after winning a World Series.