The San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals have been said to have completed a deal that will send Juan Soto and Josh Bell in exchange for CJ Abrams, Robert Hassel (Padres’ No. 1 prospect and No. 21 overall, per MLB Pipeline), James Wood (Padres’ No. 3; No. 88 overall), Jarlin Susana (Padres’ No. 14), and Mackenzie Gore. The Padres came into this week as one of the leading candidates to get Soto along with the Dodgers. Many teams checked in on the 2022 Home Run Derby Champ including the Mariners who recently just traded for Luis Castillo.
Jon Morosi was the first to report the deal:
The Padres have struggled offensively since late June, so the addition of Juan Soto and Josh Bell will help stabilize the production. San Diego is also believed to be getting Fernando Tatis Jr. back soon as well with him ramping up his baseball activity this week. Soto hit .301/.432/.550 (160 OPS+) over his first four seasons, finishing second in the National League Rookie of the Year race behind the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2018 and garnering two top-five finishes in the NL MVP voting, including a second-place finish to former teammate Bryce Harper in 2021.
Bell has seen his success transfer over into this season, in which he is batting .301/.384/.493. He entered Tuesday tied for third in the National League in multihit games, fourth in on-base percentage, fifth in batting average, sixth in hits, seventh in weighted on-base average (wOBA) and OPS, and eighth in weighted runs created plus (wRC+). He’s hitting .285 against left-handers and .311 against righties.
Eric Hosmer is also believed to be part of the deal, but he has a 10-team no-trade clause, and the Nationals are listed. Therefore he would have to give consent. The Padres knew this at the time the trade was sent in. Hosmer has declined going to the Nats, the deal is still happening.
This is breaking news, more to come.
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