ESPN Report Suggests Shocking Suitor for Juan Soto in Free Agency

Juan Soto, from all indications, is in line this coming offseason to land the second-largest free agent contract in baseball history, behind only Shohei Ohtani's $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers signed last winter.

So when considering which teams will be in the running, the ones in the biggest markets, and with the deepest pocketbooks, are the prime suspects, like the incumbent NY Yankees, the crosstown NY Mets, the always-big-spending Philadelphia Phillies, and so on.

But according to Jorge Castillo of ESPN, the upstart Washington Nationals would be all over a reunion with their former superstar.

The Nationals would love a reunion, according to people with knowledge of the situation, but it would take ownership allocating more money for Soto than they were previously willing to offer.

This is shocking news, as Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Nats two years ago, prompting them to trade him to the San Diego Padres. Would they actually be willing to go higher than $440M now?

Soto helped the Nationals to the World Series championship in 2019. Now, finally, five years later, after a series of huge trades (Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Soto), the Nats are looking like an up-and-coming contender once again, with some great young talent taking hold.

Could Soto be up for a repeat performance in the nation's capital? First, it would be up to Nationals to show him the money.

The four-time All-Star is having a spectacular contract season, with a career high 39 HR, along with 100 RBIs and a career-high 115 runs scored, plus a .289 average and a .998 OPS (not his career high, believe it or not).

Credit: