Washington Nationals

Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto addressed his feelings concerning the flurry of rumors about his future ahead of Tuesday's MLB trade deadline.

Soto homered in Monday night's 7-3 loss to the New York Mets in what could end up being his final game with the Nats.

"I feel good where I'm at," Soto told reporters. "I understand it's a business, and they need to do whatever they need to do. I'm just another player, another employee here like [former teammate Ryan Zimmerman] used to say."

He also thanked the fans for their strong support throughout the night at Nationals Park.

"It means a lot," Soto said. "It kind of feels weird, too, because nothing's happened yet. We're still waiting. It's kind of cool at the same time, but it's kind of weird, too."

Soto, 23, is the one player available on the trade market who could cause a monumental shift in the World Series outlook if he's dealt before 6 p.m. ET.

The two-time All-Star owns a career .291/.427/.538 slash line with 119 homers and 38 stolen bases across 565 appearances with Washington.

While his .894 OPS this season is on pace to set a new career-low, it's important to factor in the lack of protection in the Nats' lineup. His 91 walks are an astonishing 31 more than anybody else in baseball (Los Angeles Dodgers' Max Muncy, 60).

If Soto moves to a high-end contender where opposing pitchers won't have nearly as much leeway to pitch around him, his numbers could explode down the stretch.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Monday the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals are all still involved in discussions with the Nationals.

Adding Soto to a Dodgers lineup that already ranks second in MLB with 534 runs scored would be borderline unfair, and it'd make L.A. the clear World Series favorite.

Going to either the Padres or Cardinals would move those teams into the upper echelon alongside the Dodgers, New York Yankees, Houston Astros, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves.

The situation has reached this point because the two-time Silver Slugger Award winner has shown no interest in signing a long-term extension with the Nationals.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million proposal in mid-July, which led Washington to begin considering trade offers.

The Dominican Republic native still has two more years of club control via arbitration and can't become a free agent until after the 2024 season, per Spotrac. So there isn't imminent time pressure if the Nats don't get the type of package they want before the deadline.

Even the mere idea he could be on the move makes for one of the biggest deadline stories in years, though.

People in the industry believe the Washington Nationals will trade outfielder Juan Soto before Tuesday's deadline, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Though the Nationals could hold onto the superstar and deal him in the offseason, Passan argued the top trade contenders—San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers—could offer less with one fewer year under team control.

The Padres could be most likely landing spot for Soto. Opposing teams see the squad as a "dream trading partner due to the overflowing talent of their top prospects," according to Passan.

Catcher Luis Campusano and outfielders Robert Hassell III and James Wood are all among MLB.com's top 100 prospects. They're part of a deep Padres farm system that also includes talented shortstop Jackson Merrill.

Other young players have already reached the majors, including MacKenzie Gore and C.J. Abrams.

Those prospects could help headline a package to land Soto, a 23-year-old who already has two All-Star selections and a batting title on his resume. The right fielder finished second in MVP voting last year and currently has 20 home runs with an .878 OPS this season.

Considering Soto already helped the Nationals win a World Series in 2019, there is no question why so many contenders want to add him this season.

The Padres could be especially desperate to complete a deal as they seek their first World Series title in franchise history. The squad has reached the playoffs only once since 2006, and that came in the shortened 2020 campaign.

San Diego entered Monday trailing the Dodgers by 12 games in the NL West race, but it is currently in position for one of the three wild-card spots.

Adding Soto to a lineup that could also feature Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. would make the Padres extremely dangerous in the postseason.

With Major League Baseball's Aug. 2 trade deadline now just a day away, it's doubtful that the best hitter in the sport today and the best two-way player in its history will both be on the move.

But since there's also a non-zero chance of this happening, we can't help but ask: Which one would be the more valuable addition for a contender?

Before we get to that, let's grant that there's a higher likelihood of the Washington Nationals trading wunderkind hitter Juan Soto than there is of the Los Angeles Angels dealing slugger/ace Shohei Ohtani.

As ESPN's Jeff Passan said on the Dan Patrick Show on Friday, there's maybe an "80-20" chance of the 23-year-old Soto getting dealt:

"If he [Mike Rizzo] continues to stick to the ask that he's put out to teams up until this point, I'm not sure Juan Soto is going anywhere. He's been asking for 125% of Juan Soto's value."

-@JeffPassan discusses the likelihood of Juan Soto getting movedhttps://t.co/A7PJZRSpqn pic.twitter.com/Iym4QKfjBD

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 29, 2022

As for Ohtani, Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Thursday that a trade is "seen as very unlikely." And yet the Angels aren't hanging up on teams that call about the 2021 American League MVP.

Editors Note: on Monday afternoon, Heyman reported that Angels owner Arte Moreno is "unwilling" to trade Ohtani.

What seems certain either way is that a single team can't possibly trade for both Soto and Ohtani. It's surely a one-or-the-other situation, so let's take a look at exactly what a trade for either of them would entail and try to determine who would be the better get.

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Acquisition Cost

There's been talk of the Nationals potentially packaging Soto with fallen ace Patrick Corbin as a means to rid themselves of the $59 million the latter is owed in 2023-24. However, general manager Mike Rizzo has shot that down.

Rather, what the Nationals want for Soto is what any rebuilding team tends to want for an established star: young, controllable talent.

As Passan told Patrick, Rizzo has been asking other teams for "five or six tippy-top prospects." Passan thinks that represents "125 percent" of Soto's value, which would put his 100-percent value within the range reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic on July 23:

As I said on @FS1, multiple clubs saying Nats’ ask for Soto is 4 to 5 top youngsters, combo of prospects and major leaguers with low service time. Ten days from deadline, Nats aren’t negotiating, one exec says. A team either shows willingness to meet price, or Nats move on.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 23, 2022

The price for Ohtani, meanwhile, may be eminently similar.

Upon initially reporting on Ohtani's potential availability on July 24, Rosenthal suggested that the Angels would only move him for "established major leaguers." Yet Heyman and Sherman heard otherwise from an executive who put the club's ask for Ohtani at "something like your top four prospects.”

These asking prices are huge but not necessarily outrageous in context. The Cincinnati Reds turned a year-and-a-half of ace right-hander Luis Castillo into a four-player package that included three of the Seattle Mariners' five best prospects.

The Nationals and Angels are thus well within their rights to ask teams inquiring about Soto and Ohtani for at least their four best prospects. Even if one could perhaps be had for less than the other, there simply are no bargains in that price range.

Advantage: Push

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Age and Controllability

Soto doesn't turn 24 until Oct. 25, and his club control runs through 2024. Ohtani turned 28 on July 5, and he's slated to become a free agent after 2023.

Put another way: a trade for Ohtani would return a star who's likely near the end of his prime for one-and-a-half years, whereas one for Soto would return a star who's in the thick of his prime for two-and-a-half years.

Advantage: Soto

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Salary Requirements

After he began salary arbitration as a Super Two player in 2021, Soto settled with the Nationals on a $17.1 million salary for 2022 in March, doubling up on the $8.5 million he earned in the previous season.

Therefore, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci's "back-of-the-envelope" calculation that Soto will make $55 million between 2023 and 2024 sounds about right.

That is unless he signs a contract extension instead. The price to beat there is $440 million, which is what he would have earned over 15 years if he had accepted Washington's most recent offer.

As for Ohtani, he's earning $5.5 million in the second year of a two-year, $8.5 million contract that he and the Angels agreed to ahead of the '21 campaign. Whatever he makes in his final year of arbitration in 2023 will surely be well short of $55 million.

To boot, Ohtani's first big contract might not even sniff $440 million.

As Heyman reported in June, one rival executive set the market rate for Ohtani at $200 million over four years. The average annual salary of $50 million would blow away Max Scherzer's record of $43.3 million, but it's best to think of it not as $50 million for one player but rather as $25 million for two players.

Advantage: Ohtani

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On-Field Impact

With Soto, you're getting a great hitter and not much else. It's a good thing, then, that he's such a great hitter that the oft-heard comparisons to Ted Williams aren't hyperbolic.

Indeed, Soto and Williams are the only two hitters in history to have racked up more than 100 home runs and an on-base percentage north of .425 through their age-23 seasons.

Soto also stands alone among his contemporaries. He's the only hitter that has topped a .400 OBP in each of the last five seasons, notably leading the majors in both 2020 (.490) and 2021 (.465). He was cool to begin this season but busted his slump with a .315/.495/.616 slash line in July.

In terms of total value since the start of last season, though, even Soto is no Ohtani:

• Soto: 10.6 rWAR
• Ohtani: 14.3 rWAR

This doesn't speak to any kind of problem with Soto's bat, but rather to just how exceptional Ohtani is with both his bat and his arm.

Even setting aside his 68 home runs, the most telling thing about Ohtani's hitting over the last two seasons is that his 150 OPS+ is fifth-best among batters who've taken over 1,000 plate appearances. He hasn't been that much worse off as a pitcher, where his 141 ERA+ ranks 11th among hurlers who've made at least 40 starts.

From here, we can get into how Ohtani is capable of hitting the ball at 119 mph and throwing it at 101 mph. Oh, and also that his 37 stolen bases over the last two seasons match the total that Soto has for his five-year career.

Advantage: Ohtani

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Clutch Gene

Only one person in this two-person Battle Royale has any postseason experience, and what he did with that experience can be neither ignored nor downplayed.

Soto was only 20 years old when the Nationals began their run to the franchise's first World Series championship in 2019, but he looked like he had been there and done that many times over. Over 17 games, he put up a .927 OPS and hit five home runs.

Beyond merely being productive, Soto was also extraordinarily clutch. And he was a true dragon-slayer in the process, as his seven biggest hits were against Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Hyun Jin Ryu, Josh Hader and Roberto Osuna. Those six guys have five Cy Young Awards and 29 All-Star appearances between them.

Still, this was three years ago, and Soto is generally more of a capable clutch hitter than a dangerous one. For his career, he has a .996 OPS in low leverage compared to a .940 OPS in high leverage.

No matter which side of the ball you're looking at, Ohtani has been nothing short of the best in high leverage over the last two seasons:

• As a Hitter: 1.137 OPS (1st in MLB)
• As a Pitcher: .426 OPS (1st in MLB)

Even as impressive as Ohtani's knack for big hits may be, it's really his knack for stifling big hits that stands out. Aided in part by a fastball that he dials up to 97.4 mph with runners in scoring position, Ohtani has been a premier jam-escaper to the tune of the fourth-best strand rate of any qualified starter over the last two seasons.

Arguably none of this is a substitute for actual postseason experience, but it's a good sign that Ohtani could be just as impactful as Soto was in 2019 if he finally gets his shot at October.

Advantage: Push

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Injury Risk

There is a catch to Ohtani's two-way brilliance—or, perhaps more accurately, an ever-lingering question: How much longer will his body allow him to do this?

He's already had several injury scares, including ankle surgery in 2017 and Tommy John surgery in 2018. His return to the mound after the latter was short-lived, as he made just two starts in 2020 before the Angels shut him down from pitching because of a flexor pronator mass in his arm.

There's also the sheer frequency at which Ohtani is exposed to the injuries. Between his plate appearances as a hitter and the batters he's faced as a pitcher, he's been involved in 1,996 batter-pitcher matchups over the last two seasons.

The next-closest player in this regard is Miami Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara, who's been a part of just 1,475 batter-pitcher matchups: 1,411 as a pitcher and 64 as a hitter.

Soto, meanwhile, has played in 564 of 607 possible games since he debuted with the Nationals on May 20, 2018. Not counting the time he missed after a positive COVID test in 2020, the only injuries he's had were minor back and shoulder ailments in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

Advantage: Soto

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Our Verdict

This section would look a lot different if the question was whether Soto or Ohtani would be the best player to build a franchise around. The focus there would be on the long-term, which would make it hard not to lean toward the modern-day Ted Williams.

But since the debate here is more about who would be most helpful to a contender right now, we'll cast our vote for Ohtani.

Despite his downsides, his dual appeal as a relatively affordable and utterly peerless player is simply too great. He's arguably one of the 10 best hitters and 10 best pitchers today. To have a guy like that would be a huge leg up for even one postseason run, much less two.

Of course, the flip side is that we wouldn't dare trade Ohtani if he was already in our possession.

This seems to be Moreno's thinking as well. Even before Monday's report from Heyman, it seemed nobody reporting on the Ohtani trade sweepstakes actually expected the Angels owner to green-light a deal, with R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports hearing from one talent evaluator that Angels GM Perry Minasian "might be signing his own pink slip" if he so much as presented trade concepts to his boss.

As such, any choice between Ohtani and Soto only exists in theory. In reality, it's Soto or bust.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

It doesn't look like Juan Soto will become a member of the New York Yankees before Tuesday's trade deadline.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the Bronx Bombers checked in with the Washington Nationals on Sunday, but "there's no traction on talks regarding Soto." While the Yankees apparently "love" the superstar, Washington sees Yankees prospect Anthony Volpe "as a very good major-leaguer, not the star others do."

That seems to suggest the two sides will not come to terms on an agreement.

It doesn't come as much of a surprise that the Yankees seem to be out as a candidate for Soto, considering MLB insider Jim Bowden reported the San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers are the finalists for the Nationals star.

ESPN's Buster Olney reported on Thursday that some executives around the league believe the Padres are the frontrunner.

All the trade talk seems to be weighing on the outfielder to a degree. He told reporters, "I just want to get it over with and see what's going to happen. I mean, just go over that day and start over here or wherever I'm at."

In the first eight games after the All-Star Game, Soto had just five hits in 26 at-bats. It was a far cry from the usual production of the 23-year-old, who already has a World Series crown, a batting title, two Silver Sluggers and two All-Star selections on his resume.

From New York's perspective, trading for Soto could solve two concerns at once. Not only would it add one of the best players in the league as it pursues a championship, but he could also be a long-term replacement for Aaron Judge as a slugger in the middle of the lineup.

Judge is a free agent after this season, and he and the Yankees have yet to come to terms on a new deal.

However, Washington doesn't seem to believe in Volpe's ceiling enough as New York's top prospect on MLB.com's prospect rankings.

Volpe is slashing .253/.350/.473 with 15 home runs, 49 RBI and 37 stolen bases in Double-A this season and could be the centerpiece of a trade at some point, even though that deal reportedly won't be for Soto.

Washington Nationals star Juan Soto is counting down the hours until the 2022 MLB trade deadline passes at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

"I just want to get it over with and see what's going to happen," he said Sunday following his team's 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, per MLB.com's Jessica Camerato. "I mean, just go over that day and start over here or wherever I'm at."

On July 16, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract offer from the Nationals. As a result, Washington was willing to seriously entertain trade offers for the two-time All-Star.

From that moment on, Soto's future has been the hottest topic across baseball. It isn't every day a 23-year-old on a Hall of Fame trajectory hits the trade market.

There's also a sense of inevitability about his possible departure from Washington.

ESPN's Jeff Passan put the odds of a deal at 80 percent when asked Friday about the situation on the Dan Patrick Show. Passan added, however, that the Nationals' high asking price was turning suitors away from making a final agreement:

"If he [Mike Rizzo] continues to stick to the ask that he's put out to teams up until this point, I'm not sure Juan Soto is going anywhere. He's been asking for 125% of Juan Soto's value."

-@JeffPassan discusses the likelihood of Juan Soto getting movedhttps://t.co/A7PJZRSpqn pic.twitter.com/Iym4QKfjBD

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 29, 2022

General manager Mike Rizzo acknowledged Wednesday the Nats had discussed a Soto trade with teams around the league without stating definitively whether the player will stay or go, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post.

"I will say this: We're going to have to get the deal that we want that makes the most sense that gets us an opportunity to become a championship organization than not trading him," he told reporters. "That's it in a nutshell."

If Soto remains in Washington after the trade deadline expires, then he'll at least know he isn't going anywhere until the winter. But it will probably provide little reprieve in terms of halting any speculation.

The Nationals have the worst record in MLB at 35-68. There isn't much else to talk about regarding the 2019 World Series champions aside from whether they'll move their franchise cornerstone.

And the discourse will only accelerate once the trading window opens again after the 2022 season.

At this point, you wouldn't blame Soto for wanting to wind up on a different team by Tuesday, if only because he could put this matter to bed.

The MLB trade deadline is fast approaching, and the sweepstakes for Washington Nationals star Juan Soto is reportedly heating up.

According to MLB insider Jim Bowden, the three teams considered finalists to land Soto are the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals. Teams have until 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday to get a deal done.

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Texas Rangers had been among the teams pursuing Soto, but it appears they are longer in the running.

Bowden added that the Cardinals are offering the most talent from their major league roster, while the Padres are offering the most talent from their farm system. The Nationals are believed to be seeking a substantial package of young prospects in exchange for Soto.

ESPN's Buster Olney reported Thursday that San Diego was perceived to be the front-runner to acquire the 23-year-old slugger. The Padres have a strong selection of young players to include in trade offers, including their top two prospects, center fielder Robert Hassell III and catcher Luis Campusano.

The Dodgers and Cardinals also have highly touted youngsters they can build trade packages around, but it remains to be seen if they have enough to entice the Nationals to part ways with Soto, who has been in a slump amid the ongoing rumors.

The two-time All-Star is batting .246 with 20 home runs and 45 RBI entering Sunday. Since returning from the All-Star break, Soto has just five hits in 35 plate appearances.

Despite his recent struggles, Soto is one of the best young players in the majors and will turn whichever team he lands with into an instant contender to represent the National League in the World Series.

The Juan Soto sweepstakes is down to just four teams, according to Jim Bowden of CBS Sports, who noted the process is "moving along at a rapid pace."

The San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals are believed to be the front-runners for the Washington Nationals star, Bowden added. However, he noted that is "subject to change as any of the four teams still in the mix could improve their offers at any moment."

The news comes after ESPN's Jeff Passan said Friday on the Dan Patrick Show that he believes there's an 80 percent chance Soto will be moved ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline.

However, Passan noted that Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, who is asking for "125 percent of Juan Soto's value," needs to lower his asking price, otherwise he's unsure if Soto will get moved "for now."

In addition, Passan mentioned the Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers as the "likeliest landing spots" if Rizzo drops the asking price. He also listed the Cardinals and Seattle Mariners as potential destinations.

The Nationals began taking trade calls on Soto after he rejected a 15-year, $440 million contract extension, per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. However, he is under team control through 2024 with two more years of arbitration eligibility, so Washington can wait for the best deal to move him, whether that be now or two years from now.

Soto is one of the best young talents in baseball and is expected to become one of the highest-paid players in the sport on his next contract.

The 23-year-old is having a solid 2022 campaign, hitting .243/.400/.480 with 20 home runs, 45 RBI and five stolen bases in 97 games. He was also named an All-Star for the second straight season and won this year's Home Run Derby.

Beyond that, he is a World Series champion, two-time Silver Slugger and won the batting title in 2020.

Any team that's interested in Soto must also be willing to take on starting pitcher Patrick Corbin in a trade package, per Bowden. The Nationals want "multiple major leaguers and top prospects" and to "offload" the remainder of Corbin's six-year, $140 million deal.

The Padres have been linked as a possible destination for Soto since it was reported that the Nationals were fielding offers for the star outfielder. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Friars are interested in pairing him with star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.

"An early favorite for Soto just might be the San Diego Padres, the former 'small' market team that’s been full of surprises and thrills the past few years under GM A.J. Preller, a young man who knows the game and loves a gamble," Heyman wrote.

San Diego hasn't been shy about acquiring star talent to help it pursue a World Series title—Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado and Mike Clevinger, to name a few—so it would be no surprise to see it land Soto.

As for the Cardinals, bringing in Soto would undoubtedly give the team an upper hand on the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central race and help it make a deep playoff run. Adding him to a lineup that includes sluggers Paul Goldschmidt (.335/.417/.619) and Nolan Arenado (.296/.359/.528) could be dangerous.

ESPN's Jeff Passan believes there's an 80 percent chance that the Washington Nationals move star outfielder Juan Soto before the Tuesday no-waiver trade deadline, per comments made on the Dan Patrick Show on Friday.

"If he [Mike Rizzo] continues to stick to the ask that he's put out to teams up until this point, I'm not sure Juan Soto is going anywhere. He's been asking for 125% of Juan Soto's value."

-@JeffPassan discusses the likelihood of Juan Soto getting movedhttps://t.co/A7PJZRSpqn pic.twitter.com/Iym4QKfjBD

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 29, 2022

However, Passan's remarks dropped with the caveat that Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo has asked teams for "125 percent of Juan Soto's value," noting that he's been looking for franchises to part with "five or six tippy-top prospects from every organization he's been talking to."

If Rizzo sticks with that line of thinking, then Passan said he's not sure if Soto goes anywhere "for now."

The ESPN reporter mentioned the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers as the "likeliest landing spots" if the Nats drop their asking price down a little. He also said that the St. Louis Cardinals and Seattle Mariners were in the picture.

The Nats reportedly began entertaining trade offers for Soto after he rejected the team's 15-year, $440 million contract proposal, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital reported Friday that the Nats plan to make one final offer to Soto but that they will trade him before the deadline if he does not accept.

I can confirm: The #Nationals plan to make another offer to Juan Soto, which will be their last. If Soto does not accept, he will be traded before the deadline. https://t.co/bkNzAwPDx9

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) July 29, 2022

Soto is currently under team control through the 2024 season, but it appears his time with the team is coming to a close. His five years with the team include a 2019 World Series win, a 2021 National League MVP runner-up, a pair of All-Star appearances, two Silver Sluggers, the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up and the 2020 batting title.

That's a great effort for a 23-year-old who's on a Hall of Fame trajectory. Naturally, Rizzo will want a haul back for Soto if he can't come to terms with the star on a long-term deal to stick in town.

For the season, Soto has hit 20 home runs alongside 45 RBI and an .880 OPS.

The Washington Nationals reportedly plan to make superstar outfielder Juan Soto one final contract offer before the Aug. 2 MLB trade deadline.

According to Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital, the Nats will trade Soto before the deadline if he does not accept their offer.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported two weeks ago that Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract offer from Washington.

Rosenthal also reported that the Nationals would make Soto available in trade talks because they believed that if he didn't sign the $440 million deal, he would never re-sign with them.

Despite that, the Nats are apparently making a last-ditch effort to keep the face of the franchise.

The Nationals are not obligated to trade Soto if they can't get a deal done since he is under team control in 2023 and 2024 before becoming a free agent in 2025, but trading him now would likely maximize value.

That is key for a rebuilding Nationals team, as they must get as much as possible in a return for Soto or risk lengthening their rebuilding timeline.

Despite being just 23 years old, Soto is in his fifth MLB season and is among the top hitters in baseball.

He is a two-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, one-time batting champion and one-time World Series champion.

En route to Washington's World Series title in 2019, Soto hit .282 with a career-high 34 home runs and 110 RBI.

He followed that up with a batting title in 2020 when he hit .351, and he finished second in the National League MVP voting last season when he slashed .313/.465/.534 with 29 homers, 95 RBI and 111 runs scored.

Soto hit below his standards for the first three months of the season, but he has been much better in July and is slashing .243/.400/.480 with 20 home runs and 45 RBI.

Any team would love to get its hands on a young, sweet-swinging lefty like Soto, but it won't be cheap, as the Nats are likely to demand multiple top prospects.

Re-signing Soto is the preferred path since the Nationals could focus their rebuild around him, but if that doesn't happen and they trade him prior to next week's deadline, they figure to receive one of the biggest trade packages in MLB history.

The Houston Astros and New York Mets have reportedly checked on the availability of Washington Nationals first baseman Josh Bell ahead of Tuesday's 2022 MLB trade deadline, but the Nats' asking price is "high."

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Friday the Astros exchanged names with the Nationals amid concerns about "slippage" in the play from their first baseman, Yuli Gurriel, while the Mets made an initial offer but "don't seem as likely" to land Bell.

The 29-year-old is a strong bet to get dealt somewhere before the deadline because Washington is focused firmly on the future given its 34-66 record, and the Texas native is scheduled to become a free agent at season's end.

He's one of the top rental hitters available on the market thanks to his .302 batting average, .877 OPS and 13 home runs in 99 games so far in 2022. He mashed a career-high 37 homers with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019.

Bell told David Aldridge of The Athletic in early July he had a conversation with Nationals manager Dave Martinez last year about wanting a long-term stay in the nation's capital.

"It's one of those things where it's kind of out of my hands," Bell said. "We'll definitely see what happens. But I think the organization knows how pleased I am being here, with the city and all that, and with the community as a whole. I think this organization does pretty much everything right. So I'm definitely happy to throw on the Nationals jersey."

That said, as the rumors have intensified in the days leading up to the deadline, he also expressed a readiness to potentially play in bigger games.

"I feel like it's one of the things that you strive to be in as a kid," Bell told reporters. "It's a scenario where the game's on the line, you want the bat in your hands, you want the opportunity to win it. So, that's what makes this game fun."

Returning to his home state to play for the Astros would represent a jump from a rebuilding club to one firmly in the World Series conversation.

Houston didn't have a need at first base entering the season, but Gurriel has struggled mightily after capturing the 2021 AL batting title. His OPS (.681) and WAR (minus-0.1) both rank 27th out of 28 qualified players at the position, per FanGraphs.

Adding Bell, who's sixth among first basemen in WAR (2.4), would fill one of the few holes on an Astros roster that ranks sixth in OPS (.739) and second in team ERA (3.05).

Meanwhile, the Mets don't have a need at first base with NL MVP candidate Pete Alonso manning the position, but Bell could take over as the club's primary designated hitter. J.D. Davis and the recently acquired Daniel Vogelbach are currently sharing the DH role.

New York, led by big-spending owner Steve Cohen, figures to remain active leading up to the deadline as it attempts to hold off the reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves in the NL East. It holds a three-game lead in the division race.

Regardless of where he lands, Bell should represent one of the biggest deadline additions for any contender over the next handful of days.