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As the Washington Nationals continue to decide whether to trade Juan Soto, we now have an idea of what the San Diego Padres will be willing to deal for the two-time All-Star.
According to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, the Padres are willing to discuss CJ Abrams, Adrian Morejón and top prospect Robert Hassell III in talks for Soto.
The Nationals haven’t completely given up hope of retaining Soto before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
According to Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital, Washington intends to make another contract offer to Soto. If he doesn’t accept, the 23-year-old “will be traded before the deadline.”
Gomez noted that the Nationals have not accepted San Diego’s trade proposal because they are looking for “an additional major prospect” in the offer, as well as the four currently being discussed.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Fox Sports reported Saturday that the Padres and St. Louis Cardinals are the “perceived frontrunners” to acquire Soto.
According to Rosenthal, there are people in MLB who believe Padres general manager AJ Preller will “do anything” to get Soto.
Preller has made several aggressive moves in recent years to help San Diego return to prominence in the National League. He gave Manny Machado a 10-year, $300 million contract as a free agent in February 2019.
The Padres traded for Mike Clevinger during the 2020 season and Yu Darvish in December 2020.
Those deals haven’t completely exhausted San Diego’s farm system, which MLB.com ranked as the 17th best in the MLB heading into the season.
Abrams was the team’s top prospect at the start of 2022. He graduated as a prospect with 134 plate appearances in the big leagues, but his first exposure to baseball’s highest level has been a struggle. The 21-year-old has a slash line of .231/.280/.322 with two homers and 11 RBI.
While it’s hard to draw strong conclusions about Abrams’ career after such a small sample size, these early struggles could be cause for concern if he’s going to headline a deal.
Morejón is slowly working his way back to form after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2021. The 23-year-old has a 3.00 ERA with eight strikeouts in nine innings in six appearances since debuting on June 7 2022.
Hassell is the No. 21 prospect in the sport, according to MLB.com. The No. 8 pick in the 2020 draft is hitting .303/.384/.463 with nine homers, 52 RBI and 20 stolen bases in 73 games with the High-A Ft. Wayne Tincaps.
The Padres are likely to fight for a wild card spot this season. They entered Saturday trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by 12 games in the National League West.
San Diego (56-45) holds a 2-game lead over the Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies for the No. 2 wild card in the NL.
Adding Soto would almost certainly increase the Padres’ chances of landing one of the three NL wild card spots. They would also close the gap on the Dodgers, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves as the best team in the National League.
Soto is hitting .243/.399/.478 with 20 homers, 45 RBIs and 84 RBIs in 98 games this season.