The hottest topic in Major League Baseball right now is the future of Juan Soto. It has been a long time since a player like this has been traded and it might happen now. The Washington Nationals could trade him at any time now. Could the Chicago White Sox be an option?
Soto already declined a contract north of 400 million dollars and then that is how it became known that he is going to be on the block. Of course, the White Sox are one of a few teams that have never handed out a contract worth 100 million or more.
That fact isn’t as telling as you’d think though. They did offer massive deals to guys like Manny Machado and Bryce Harper but they chose to go elsewhere. It is a bad look but at least the White Sox have a seat at the table a lot of the time. Not every team can say the same.
In order for any team to land him, they are going to have to give up a lot. There are some big-time media personalities that have opinions on this stuff and one proposed trade is one that will just not get it done.
Jesse Rodgers of ESPN and Chuck Garfien of NBC Sports Chicago went on David Kaplan’s (ESPN 1000 and NBC Sports Chicago) YouTube channel to talk about a potential trade with both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs.
When they talked about the White Sox making this trade, the conversation seemed to circle around one proposed trade package that they came up with:
This Chicago White Sox trade package proposed here is never going to happen.
This looks like a lot to give up for one player. It certainly is a lot but it would be well worth it. Soto would replace Andrew Vaughn and then some which is the biggest key to the trade. Then the White Sox would just have to replace Michael Kopech who has been up and down anyway.
Giving up their two top prospects would be tough but this team is in a “win now” mode and that should be their focus. Adding Soto would really help them in their journey to take that next step as a team.
The fact that you can argue that this is a good trade for the White Sox makes it a bad trade for the Nationals. Soto, outside of Shohei Ohtani, might be the best player in baseball right now. Washington is going to try and get as much as they can for him as they try to rebuild their organization.
As fun as it is to think about Soto coming to the White Sox, it is just s unlikely because of the fact that a trade like this isn’t enough. It makes it even harder when you realize that he needs a new contract soon and that is going to break records.
It might take Luis Robert to get it done so it is fair to think that there are other (smarter) ways to get the White Sox to the next level. It was fun to hear Jesse, Chuck, and Kap talk about this but it is just not enough to get it done.