Juan Soto rumors: What it would take for the Colorado Rockies to get him

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier today that Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto rejected a 15-year deal for $440 million, which would be the longest and most lucrative deal in MLB history.

With rejecting it, the chance that the Nationals trade Soto at the trade deadline or this coming offseason has increased a lot.

Only a few teams actually have the financial ability to take on his contract as well as the Colorado Rockies. Colorado’s farm system has significantly increased in the last few months so they might actually have the means to get him.

But would they be willing to trade for him?

What would it take for the Colorado Rockies to get Juan Soto?

Before we even consider what it would take for the Colorado Rockies to get Juan Soto, let’s consider why they’d want him.

Soto doesn’t turn 24 years old until October. He is arbitration-eligible for two more years so he would not just be a rental.

In his career, Soto has a 162-game average of 34 home runs, 104 RBI and a slash line of .292/.427/.540 with an OPS+ of 160. Having that bat in the Rockies lineup would be huge, especially with 81 games a year at Coors Field.

But with that amount of control for one of the best players in the sport, it would take a massive haul for him. Massive.

Here’s what a possible trade would look like:

That is six of Colorado’s top seven prospects. Veen, Tovar, Amador, and Montero all were among Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list at the halfway point of the season.

The only one not in the top seven prospects would be outfielder Benny Montgomery. Essentially, the only reason why he’s not in there is to include Ryan Rolison. The Nationals are in desperate need of some pitching. Despite being injured, he’s at the Triple-A level and he’s Colorado’s top pitching prospect.

Perhaps, the Rockies would be able to have less of a prospect return if they took on Patrick Corbin’s salary but neither team would probably be interested in that.

In all reality, it would be the biggest surprise in Rockies history and the biggest surprise in the baseball world for many years. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s a one-in-a-million shot that the Rockies trade for Soto but even just for Rockies fans to dream about him playing at Coors Field, is an intriguing idea.

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