MLB News: San Diego Padres Reportedly Trade for Nationals Star Juan Soto
In this story:
Baseball fans didn't even have to wait until 3PM MLB trade deadline today to hear the news that Juan Soto is headed out of Washington. After weeks of buildup, the San Diego Padres have reportedly landed Juan Soto and Josh Bell in exchange for five prospects and one major league player.
ESPN's Jeff Passan was one of the first to break the news.
But then things got interesting as far as the "one more major league player". Multiple insiders reported that Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer was initially included in the deal. However, Hosmer has a 10-team no-trade list that, surprise, the Nationals are on.
That apparently put the San Diego-Soto deal in complete limbo, but according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, Soto is officially a Padre.
The Dodgers were certainly in on the Soto sweepstakes, but in the end, the Padres, helmed by notorious wheeler-and-dealer A.J. Preller, won the biggest prize of the trade deadline.
As everyone expected, and as the Nationals communicated to potential suitors, Soto's price tag wasn't cheap.
The deal included lefty McKenzie Gore, the former top prospect in all of baseball and CJ Abrams, a well-regarded shortstop and former sixth-overall pick who's struggled so far in his first year in the bigs (.605).
The other three prospects in the deal include two of San Diego's top three in their system according to MLB Pipeline: outfielder Robert Hassell III (#1), James Wood (#3), and right-handed pitcher Jarlin Susana (#14).
MLB.com's Jon Heyman reported that despite the "one major league player" piece of the trade being undecided, it's not in danger of stopping the trade.
