CLEVELAND — As Tuesday night's MLB All-Star Game approaches, Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto finds himself at center stage. After the two-time All-Star reportedly turned down a 15-year, $440 million extension with the team, the Nationals are now fielding trade offers for the 23-year-old phenom.
Should Washington trade Soto, it wouldn't be hyperbole to say that it would be one of the biggest trades in baseball history. And naturally, many Cleveland Guardians fans are curious if their favorite team might enter the sweepstakes.
After all, it's rare that a player of Soto's caliber, at his age and with 2.5 years of team control remaining on his contract, becomes available. But as is often the case with such trade, whether a team can and whether it should make a deal are two different questions.
Can the Guardians make a deal?
In short, yes.
Assuming the Nationals are looking to load up on high-level prospects as they continue their post-2019 World Series rebuild, there are few teams better suited to put together a trade package than Cleveland. According to MLB Pipeline, the Guardians lay claim to eight of baseball's top 100 prospects, a group that includes MLB's No. 11 prospect in right-handed pitcher Daniel Espino and the No. 32 prospect in outfielder George Valera.
Putting together a list of teams that could possibly put together a trade package for Soto, Baseball America -- a leading authority on baseball prospects -- listed Cleveland second, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to the Guardians' plethora of appealing prospects, Baseball America noted the amount of young, Major League talent -- Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez, Amed Rosario, Steven Kwan and Oscar Gonzalez -- that Cleveland could use to put together a trade package that would be tough to top.
In short, if the Guardians want to make a deal for Soto, few teams would be better suited to do so.
Should the Guardians make a deal?
While it's relatively easy to determine that the Guardians would have the necessary pieces to acquire Soto, deciphering whether they should is a much more complicated question. Perhaps most notably, it's tough to imagine a world where Cleveland could sign Soto to a long-term contract if he has already turned down a 15-year, $440 deal.
While the idea of pairing Soto in a lineup with Jose Ramirez for what could potentially be three runs to the postseason, the reality remains that it would require the Guardians gutting their minor league system -- and perhaps a part of their Major League lineup -- to do so. It's also worth noting that of Cleveland's eight top 100 prospects, seven project to be ready by 2023 or sooner, creating a viable path for the Guardians to fast-track their own rebuild.
Assuming the Guardians wouldn't be able to re-sign Soto -- and that seems like a safe assumption -- the question they would have to ask is whether he's the missing piece in their pursuit of a World Series title in the next three years. As presently constructed, it would be tough to say that the answer to that question is "yes," as Cleveland would likely be better served benefitting from its own talent-rich farm system.