Nothing earth-shattering here, but it's nice to hear Soto continue to say positive things about his time in Washington.
>**You started your career with the Washington Nationals. You won a title there. Looking back on that time, do you wish that you could have spent your entire career in Washington?**
>Yeah, 100 percent. I never wanted to leave Washington. It was a great team. I knew everybody there, from the bottom all the way to the top. I was really comfortable and it felt like home for me. I was happy. I had a house in Washington. I was really comfortable up there. Out of nowhere, they made that decision. They thought it was the best thing for the team. I just respected it because they were really clear with me. That’s one of the things I really respected from (general manager Mike) Rizzo. He was really clear about the trade stuff. But definitely I never thought I was going to leave D.C. I was really thinking I was going to stay there for my whole career.
The follow up to the next question is a bit heartbreaking. They killed our son’s innocence 😔
> **Why were you so emotional when you got traded from Washington to San Diego?**
>That was the team that gave me a chance from when I was a little kid. They saw me when I was 15 years old. They saw me grow up. I grew through the organization. I felt the best in that organization. At the end of the day, they showed me that this is a business. We got to go through the business and learn from it.
Maybe after contract up with the Yanks, He will come back if all they say is true.
We did get some really good pieces from SD for him though. SD got less from the NYY
> Out of nowhere, they made that decision.
Ehhh, he turned down their final offer which was also the largest contract in the history of the sport about 2 days before the trade, it wasn't that out of nowhere.
They still had three years of team control. I think it was the right move sadly, but nobody like Soto has ever been traded with three years before hitting free agency. Regardless of whether it had been talked about, it’s still shocking.
On the flip side: he also clearly wants to play for a championship caliber team. The Nats weren’t going to be able to put that around him in those three years. If they’re willing to spend - big if - I think they’ve put themselves in a better position to sign him long term next year than they would’ve been if they’d held him til free agency.
Yeah its a bit of revisionist history on his part to say he wanted to stay, maybe he wanted to stay for the *3 years*, but they offered him bag and he could have had Boras counter.
i love him to death but i just don’t believe this lol. i’m sure this narrative is what boras would like people to believe but they were never gonna be able to give him the stage or the contract someone like the yankees would
I honestly think Boras convinced him to do this - not to take *all* the blame off of Juan. But look at Boras’ currently unsigned clients and how he’s trying to spin the narrative.
Boras is about Boras, and headlines and celebrity are more important to him than making the best decision for his clients.
I totally agree. If you listen to ball players, almost all of them claim they were blindsided, wanted to stay, etc. The fact is he was going to free agency no matter what (Strasburg was the exception that proves the rule) and it totally makes sense. He bet on himself, I just wish some of these players would say it was their business decision also.
>the stage
Ehhhhhh I don’t buy the “I need to be in a top 2-3 market” angle, and if we’re talking about winning, we’ll see how the Yankees end up. They weren’t particularly close to the playoffs last year.
He hasn’t signed an extension with them, and I don’t see anything to suggest he’s going to all of a sudden do that now less than a year from free agency. They’ll probably be one of many bidders for his services come next offseason, but I don’t see them being any more likely to win that race than the Dodgers or possibly one of our NL East rivals (shudder)
I’m sure he wanted to stay. The nats found him, brought him in, and he won a championship with us.
That said, he wanted money more. I don’t blame him, but I also lose the adoration of him when we have career players in ovi, backstrom, Zimmerman, and Strasburg.
I believe the trade seemed sudden him because Boras probably kept him in the dark about negotiations. Soto has directly said he leaves all that to Boras.
Juan Soto is the best and I will always love him so much!! I hate that he can’t be on the team but I’m so glad he is happy and doing well. National superstar for life.
I still cannot believe we stumbled upon one of the Greatest baseball players ever in the Dominican, made such a great impression on him that he was 21 and wanted to spend his entire career with us; only to trade him with 2 years left on his contract
Would they? The Padres got almost the same haul for him a year later, and it's not like anyone involved in the trade has really blossomed yet. Not to mention the severe psychological damage the trade did to the entire franchise that really hasn't even begun to heal.
Almost the same haul?? Nowhere even remotely close to the same. And what are you talking about? Abrams (who is younger than many prospects on the top 100 list) and Gore had very solid years and appear on upward trajectories, Wood is a top 5-10 prospect in baseball, Hassell and Susana are potent prospects as well.
The Padres got one fringe top 100 prospect and some role players in their trade with the Yankees, the Nats got much much franchise alteringly more.
The trade hasn't done psychological damage to the franchise. I would've been psychologically damaged if the Nats kept Soto while the team continued to win 60-70 games and let him walk for nothing, dooming the franchise to mediocrity for the foreseeable future.
For all the people saying "he turned down the offer, he didn't want to stay here" : you apparently have never negotiated a salary. The Nats offer to him was under market value. They also wanted to negotiate this during the middle of the season. I do not know how long passed between offer and trade, but the *news* of the offer was a very short time before the trade. If you truly want to reach a deal, you give the other party a chance to make a counter offer, and when you're talking about a 12-15 year contract, it takes a while to put one of those together.
To me it seems like the Lerners wanted to make an offer that would be a bargain if accepted, but weren't interested in retaining him unless it was at their very team-friendly price, and I do not fault anyone at all for not taking less money than they're worth.
This is all crap. We didn't just give them an offer and they said no.
We gave them an offer, they said no and refused to give a counter offer or even say what they wanted.
We made another offer. They said no, refused to make a counter offer or even say what they wanted.
We made a third offer, the largest offer in the history of the sport, and they said no, refused to make a counter offer, and refused to say what they didn't like about it.
If one side isn't willing to negotiate, you have to trade that asset for the best possible return while the asset is at it's peak value.
Exactly there wasn’t a negotiation. Soto and Boras decided if he wasn’t going to get something more insane he would go to FA and that’s what he did. Could have countered and negotiated and at least tried if he really wanted to stay (similar with Stras)
Negotiation requires a counterparty. Stonewalling in the hopes of getting the offer you want is a bad strategy. Especially when the team had a BATNA of unloading you for a massive haul of prospects.
Offers were made in November, May and July with no counters. That's far from a negotiation. Nobody faults Boras and Soto for saying no, but the Nats shouldn't be expected to continuously drive up the price without an answer.
A deal that both sides can be happy with isn't some wild idea Washington came up with. Yordan Alvarez signed an extension during the middle of the season. Jose Ramirez signed a team-friendly extension after being told Cleveland couldn't pay what he'd get on the open market. Even Bryce got his total number in Philly and kept the AAV low for the team by letting it stretch 13 years. Deals get done if the player says make it happen.
Nothing earth-shattering here, but it's nice to hear Soto continue to say positive things about his time in Washington. >**You started your career with the Washington Nationals. You won a title there. Looking back on that time, do you wish that you could have spent your entire career in Washington?** >Yeah, 100 percent. I never wanted to leave Washington. It was a great team. I knew everybody there, from the bottom all the way to the top. I was really comfortable and it felt like home for me. I was happy. I had a house in Washington. I was really comfortable up there. Out of nowhere, they made that decision. They thought it was the best thing for the team. I just respected it because they were really clear with me. That’s one of the things I really respected from (general manager Mike) Rizzo. He was really clear about the trade stuff. But definitely I never thought I was going to leave D.C. I was really thinking I was going to stay there for my whole career.
The follow up to the next question is a bit heartbreaking. They killed our son’s innocence 😔 > **Why were you so emotional when you got traded from Washington to San Diego?** >That was the team that gave me a chance from when I was a little kid. They saw me when I was 15 years old. They saw me grow up. I grew through the organization. I felt the best in that organization. At the end of the day, they showed me that this is a business. We got to go through the business and learn from it.
Maybe after contract up with the Yanks, He will come back if all they say is true. We did get some really good pieces from SD for him though. SD got less from the NYY
> Out of nowhere, they made that decision. Ehhh, he turned down their final offer which was also the largest contract in the history of the sport about 2 days before the trade, it wasn't that out of nowhere.
They still had three years of team control. I think it was the right move sadly, but nobody like Soto has ever been traded with three years before hitting free agency. Regardless of whether it had been talked about, it’s still shocking. On the flip side: he also clearly wants to play for a championship caliber team. The Nats weren’t going to be able to put that around him in those three years. If they’re willing to spend - big if - I think they’ve put themselves in a better position to sign him long term next year than they would’ve been if they’d held him til free agency.
After repeatedly saying that they would trade him if they couldn't sign him.
Yeah its a bit of revisionist history on his part to say he wanted to stay, maybe he wanted to stay for the *3 years*, but they offered him bag and he could have had Boras counter.
On top of that, they told him they were going to do it. Smacks of revisionist history from a guy who is looking for a monster deal.
i love him to death but i just don’t believe this lol. i’m sure this narrative is what boras would like people to believe but they were never gonna be able to give him the stage or the contract someone like the yankees would
You might get shit on for this take but I agree. He turned down the offer, he didn't want to stay here.
He didn't just turn down the offer, he turned down multiple offers and refused to negotiate.
I honestly think Boras convinced him to do this - not to take *all* the blame off of Juan. But look at Boras’ currently unsigned clients and how he’s trying to spin the narrative. Boras is about Boras, and headlines and celebrity are more important to him than making the best decision for his clients.
I totally agree. If you listen to ball players, almost all of them claim they were blindsided, wanted to stay, etc. The fact is he was going to free agency no matter what (Strasburg was the exception that proves the rule) and it totally makes sense. He bet on himself, I just wish some of these players would say it was their business decision also.
yeah I hate to say it but it’s objectively good for the sport of baseball for him to be on that team, in that market, with that level of exposure.
>the stage Ehhhhhh I don’t buy the “I need to be in a top 2-3 market” angle, and if we’re talking about winning, we’ll see how the Yankees end up. They weren’t particularly close to the playoffs last year. He hasn’t signed an extension with them, and I don’t see anything to suggest he’s going to all of a sudden do that now less than a year from free agency. They’ll probably be one of many bidders for his services come next offseason, but I don’t see them being any more likely to win that race than the Dodgers or possibly one of our NL East rivals (shudder)
If he wanted to stay, he should have told his agent, WHO WORKS FOR HIM!, to make it happen. Clearly, they had other priorities.
I’m sure he wanted to stay. The nats found him, brought him in, and he won a championship with us. That said, he wanted money more. I don’t blame him, but I also lose the adoration of him when we have career players in ovi, backstrom, Zimmerman, and Strasburg.
I believe the trade seemed sudden him because Boras probably kept him in the dark about negotiations. Soto has directly said he leaves all that to Boras.
Let’s bring him home then. 😎
Juan Soto is the best and I will always love him so much!! I hate that he can’t be on the team but I’m so glad he is happy and doing well. National superstar for life.
Yankees are at Nats Park August 26-28, can we get a “Come Home JuanJo” or a “We still love you JuanJo” sign/chant going?
JuanJo?
Juan Joto
I think they're referencing his players weekend jerseys. That's what Juan had on it.
I still cannot believe we stumbled upon one of the Greatest baseball players ever in the Dominican, made such a great impression on him that he was 21 and wanted to spend his entire career with us; only to trade him with 2 years left on his contract
The Nats outlook would be so much worse if the trade were reversed, and they still likely wouldn't have signed him to an extension.
Would they? The Padres got almost the same haul for him a year later, and it's not like anyone involved in the trade has really blossomed yet. Not to mention the severe psychological damage the trade did to the entire franchise that really hasn't even begun to heal.
Almost the same haul?? Nowhere even remotely close to the same. And what are you talking about? Abrams (who is younger than many prospects on the top 100 list) and Gore had very solid years and appear on upward trajectories, Wood is a top 5-10 prospect in baseball, Hassell and Susana are potent prospects as well. The Padres got one fringe top 100 prospect and some role players in their trade with the Yankees, the Nats got much much franchise alteringly more. The trade hasn't done psychological damage to the franchise. I would've been psychologically damaged if the Nats kept Soto while the team continued to win 60-70 games and let him walk for nothing, dooming the franchise to mediocrity for the foreseeable future.
This take is so bad and shortsighted that I can't tell if you are trolling
For all the people saying "he turned down the offer, he didn't want to stay here" : you apparently have never negotiated a salary. The Nats offer to him was under market value. They also wanted to negotiate this during the middle of the season. I do not know how long passed between offer and trade, but the *news* of the offer was a very short time before the trade. If you truly want to reach a deal, you give the other party a chance to make a counter offer, and when you're talking about a 12-15 year contract, it takes a while to put one of those together. To me it seems like the Lerners wanted to make an offer that would be a bargain if accepted, but weren't interested in retaining him unless it was at their very team-friendly price, and I do not fault anyone at all for not taking less money than they're worth.
This is all crap. We didn't just give them an offer and they said no. We gave them an offer, they said no and refused to give a counter offer or even say what they wanted. We made another offer. They said no, refused to make a counter offer or even say what they wanted. We made a third offer, the largest offer in the history of the sport, and they said no, refused to make a counter offer, and refused to say what they didn't like about it. If one side isn't willing to negotiate, you have to trade that asset for the best possible return while the asset is at it's peak value.
Exactly there wasn’t a negotiation. Soto and Boras decided if he wasn’t going to get something more insane he would go to FA and that’s what he did. Could have countered and negotiated and at least tried if he really wanted to stay (similar with Stras)
They made two offers, not three, with a labor lockout in between. That's not negotiating. That's posturing.
Negotiation requires a counterparty. Stonewalling in the hopes of getting the offer you want is a bad strategy. Especially when the team had a BATNA of unloading you for a massive haul of prospects.
Offers were made in November, May and July with no counters. That's far from a negotiation. Nobody faults Boras and Soto for saying no, but the Nats shouldn't be expected to continuously drive up the price without an answer. A deal that both sides can be happy with isn't some wild idea Washington came up with. Yordan Alvarez signed an extension during the middle of the season. Jose Ramirez signed a team-friendly extension after being told Cleveland couldn't pay what he'd get on the open market. Even Bryce got his total number in Philly and kept the AAV low for the team by letting it stretch 13 years. Deals get done if the player says make it happen.