Debating the question: the Atlanta Braves should pursue Juan Soto
It would be shooting for the moon and probably has a 0.04% chance of happening, but it’s time to have a rational debate about why the Atlanta Braves should be calling the Nationals about Juan Soto.
“Never tell me the odds.” Let’s hope that there’s nobody from the Atlanta Braves’ Department of Analytics whispering things into the ear of GM Alex Anthopolous about the chances of getting Juan Soto away from Washington… a name that ironically sounds a lot like “Han Solo” if you need a reminder of the source of that quote.
So here we are now at the last full week prior to the August 2nd MLB Trade Deadline and the player now holding the title of “Human Trade Rumor” is Soto.
All it took to earn that honor was the simple matter of turning down $440 million dollars.
It’s easy to dismiss pursuing a player like Soto. Here’s the quickie list of arguments you might come up with to do so:
- He’s way too expensive
- Can’t sign him for the long term
- The Braves really need a starting pitcher
- It’s too high a cost of prospects
- (related) The Braves don’t have the farm system to offer
- Atlanta already has plenty of outfielders
- The Nats aren’t going to trade Soto within the division
- Another team will probably get him anyway
- He’s not that good
All of these are understandable… except the last one. If you believe that, you’re an idiot.
But all the rest of these are understandable… until you open the floor for debate on each one. So let’s do a deeper dive and construct an argument against each of these points.
What follows may simply be no more than an exercise in futility, but hey: the worst thing that can happen is … well, I guess the worst would be that the Mets end up with him, right? In the meantime… maybe we can convince a few doubters?
Before that, though, let’s review the supposed asking price for Soto’s services:
- “4 or 5” top prospects.
- All of these players either in the majors with low service time or lower-risk upper minor league talents.
That is a tall order… but we’ll get to that from the Braves’ perspective as we go along. Let’s count down those arguments.