Mariners Trade Proposal: Packages to offer for Nationals Juan Soto

I’m gonna get this out of the way right now. At least read this before you yell at me. These are just proposals, I don’t have insider information, but I have done my research and talked with people to try and come up with a fair value. I know it’s important to say, because anytime you talk about trading for Juan Soto, people are going to get up in arms.

However, the Mariners are one of the teams that have enough prospect capital, available salary, and the means and methods to make it happen. They could do it during the season, or after, and make either scenario work. For those that are worried about giving up too much, it is Juan Soto. He’s a monster… and he’s only 23.

The Mariners should go for it and trade for Juan Soto

He also is under team control through 2024. Already making $17.1 million this year, he is likely going to break the arbitration records over the next two years. However, it’s still going to be a massive underpay for arguably the best player in baseball.

For those looking at Soto’s stats and saying “oh, it’s good, but not THAT good” then you need to take a look at one very, very, very important stat.

BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play)

Coming into this season, Juan Soto had a BABIP of .330 and a batting average of .301 through 2003 plate appearances. That goes along with an OBP of .432 and a slugging % of .550. That leads me to believe that he has been quite unlucky this year, as the 2000 PA are far from a small sample size, and are likely closer to the reality for what he is going to do, especially with how good of an eye he has as well as how hard he hits the ball.

Oh, and I’ll mention it again. He’s only 23. He’s likely four years from his prime (ages 27-29 are normally listed as a player’s prime years). This year, his BABIP is only .244, 86 points below his career average. Don’t be surprised to see him dominate in the second half to get that closer to the norm for his career.

Oh, and he’s still a 3.4 WAR, even with the bad luck. Imagine having bad luck all season, and still finishing with around 6.5 WAR. He’s still T-24th this season in WAR. So yeah, he’s that good, and yeah, he is worth it.

Anyway, you likely know that Juan Soto is special. Calling him the modern-day Ted Williams doesn’t get you banned from ever talking about baseball again. So, what would it take to actually get him?

Well, I think there are a few different avenues of approach to take for this. There are going to be three things that I propose today. All minor leaguers, a mix of minor and major leaguers, and taking back some salary in the final deal. Reportedly, those final two options are what the Nationals are looking at doing, willing to take back less if the other team takes on some salary when they trade for Juan Soto.

Here we go. Here is what it would take for the Mariners to trade for Nationals Uber-star, Juan Soto.