This Juan Soto trade destination would make too much sense

With the Washington Nationals reportedly listening to trade offers for Juan Soto, this team from the NL West should be calling. And no, it’s not the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Just prior to the start of the Saturday, July 16 games, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal dropped a bombshell report indicated that Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract offer from the team. Rosenthal notes that now, the team is open to listening to trade offers for the 23-year-old star.

Acquiring Soto will be no easy task, considering his age and that he is under contract until the end of the 2024 season. Plus, the Nationals are going to want a lot in return to willingly trade away one of baseball’s brightest young stars.

There is one team that makes sense as a landing spot for Soto, and it is in the NL West. No, it is not the Los Angeles Dodgers, which would be a good guess considering they are in on every top player available on the trade market. But the team that makes the most sense are the San Diego Padres.

Padres make too much sense as Juan Soto trade destination

The Padres are a team that is not afraid to make a big splash move to help them in their pursuit of making it into the postseason. They have done so in the past by bringing in the likes of Will Myers, Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado, Mike Clevinger, and much more. You can not rule them out.

San Diego has Machado and star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. Now imagine adding Soto to the mix? That’s a lot of power in the batting order.

As of this writing, the Padres are 9.5 games behind the Dodgers for first place in the NL West. The Padres have been competing with their rivals in high leverage situations in recent years. From the 2020 NLDS that saw the Dodgers eliminate the Padres, to Los Angeles stealing Max Scherzer away from San Diego at last year’s trade deadline.

But the real question is will a trade happen this season? Well, considering that Soto is still under contract for two more seasons after this campaign, the Nationals may be patient until they are blown away by a deal.

If recent history has shown us anything, it is that you can never rule out the Padres when it comes to either signing or trading for a big name player.