Looking at a potential St. Louis Cardinals trade for Juan Soto

Executives around the league believe the Nationals will shop superstar Juan Soto this summer, let’s take a look at what the Cardinals could offer for him.

There have been few players this in the last decade that have as much talent at the plate as Nationals outfielder Juan Soto. Since debuting at age 19 in 2018, Soto has emerged as one of the best players in baseball and arguably one of the most difficult left handed hitters to face since Barry Bonds. That makes the news that the Nationals could feel “compelled” and “motivated” to trade Soto that much crazier, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.

While some may think this trade is unlikely, keep in mind the Washington Nationals have traded away stars like Trea Turner and Max Scherzer as recently as last season, and allowed home grown talent like Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon to walk in free agency. If they Nationals are not going to re-sign Soto, they cannot afford to let him walk for nothing, or wait too long to trade him.

Soto is a career .297/.428/.544 hitter with 106 home runs and a career WAR of 19.2 at the age of 23. Any team that could trade for and extend Soto would be looking at between 10-12 prime years of the outfielder, who is on pace to go down as an all-time great. It is hard to think of a price that would be too high for a player of this caliber.

The St. Louis Cardinals have been aggressive in recent seasons bringing in superstars on the trade market, such as Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. If there was every a time to go all out to acquire a player for the Redbirds, Juan Soto is the guy. Here is why and how the this trade could go down between the Nationals and Cardinals this season.