The San Diego Padres made a bold swing for Juan Soto at the 2022 trade deadline, shipping several top prospects to the Washington Nationals for 2.5 years of club control. Before his final season of arbitration, San Diego turned around and traded Soto again, with the New York Yankees taking the bait.
Washington received OF James Wood, LHP Mackenzie Gore, SS CJ Abrams, OF Robert Hassell III, RHP Jarlin Susana and 1B Luke Volt in exchange for Soto and veteran 1B Josh Bell. Neither Soto nor Bell are in San Diego anymore, obviously. Wood, Gore and Abrams are basically the foundation of DC's roster, with Hassell and Susana ranking as top-10 prospects in the Nats farm system. The former made his MLB debut this season. Volt fell by the wayside, now playing in Mexico.
While it's often a little bit silly to declare "winners" and "losers" in such a robust trade with so much situational nuance, the Padres didn't get anything much out of Soto's brief tenure. The team has, frankly, improved since his departure — though it's worth emphasing that correlation does not equal causation in this particular instance. Washington, meanwhile, shed a player who never would have extended his contract and received five of their best assets in return.
It makes one ponder what San Diego's lineup might look like right now if the Soto trade never happened and Woods, Abrams and Gore came up in the Padres system.
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Padres lineup with James Wood, CJ Abrams if Juan Soto trade never happened
Order | Name | Position |
|---|---|---|
1 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | RF |
2 | Jackson Merrill | CF |
3 | James Wood | LF |
4 | Manny Machado | 3B |
5 | CJ Abrams | 2B |
6 | Luis Arrárez | DH |
7 | Xander Bogaerts | SS |
8 | Jake Cronenworth | 1B |
9 | Martin Maldonado | C |
This is a real buzzsaw. San Diego would have more financial flexibility, two absolute rising stars (plus a top rotation ace in Mackenzie Gore), and several quality prospects still coming through the pipeline. Again, Juan Soto is Juan Soto, and the Padres were right to take the plunge — even at great risk. San Diego has also held up well after the (second) Soto trade, further justifying the risk. But... man. This lineup is so sick.
James Wood slides into left field, addressing the most significant hole in San Diego's current lineup. CJ Abrams slides to second base to share the middle infield with Xander Bogaerts, giving the Padres two standout athletes with plus, plus bats. Abrams is a subpar defender at short, so the move to second actually mitigates his weakest attribute.
Jake Cronenworth shifts to first base. That's not his natural position, but he has experience there and he has the glove to figure it out on a more regular basis. Luis Arráez takes the DH slot, moving Gavin Sheets into a supercharged bench or platoon role — or on the trade market, however San Diego decides to approach things.
There is obviously a broader butterfly effect to consider — there's no way San Diego makes all the same signings, call-ups and demotions for 2.5 years without Soto on the roster — but if we project the Padres to land in generally the same place... this is clearly a contender. Maybe even the favorite to win the National League when considering the Dodgers' overwhelming slew of pitching injuries.
Oh, what could have been.