The long-term future of Juan Soto and Trea Turner with the Nationals, is a hot topic that has come up many times — and will continue to — as their star power rises and other players around baseball sign mega-deals and extensions.
Questions of potential contract extensions for Juan Soto and Trea Turner remain a hot topic in Spring Training. General manager Mike Rizzo spoke on the state of the team on Monday, ahead of its seventh Spring Training game.
“We’ve discussed internally with ownership about it,” Rizzo said. “We’re in the midst of making decisions on what a timeframe would look like. … We certainly have made and will make a long-term extension offer to both players sometime in the near future.”
Last month, Trea Turner stated he would love to play his entire career with the Nationals. While Washington was unable to retain Anthony Rendon, you’d expect the front office to make a strong push to keep Turner. Because of the timing, Turner might be the bigger priority right now.
“I would love to play my entire career here. I would love for him to play his entire career here,” Turner said. “But we’ll see. Those are big, big questions, and you’ve kind of got to take it day by day. If it happens, that would be special.”
Between 2019 and 2020, Turner ranked fifth at his position in WAR (6.3), per FanGraphs. He slugged .525 with a .374 weighted on-base average. FanGraphs listed him fifth among all position players in baserunning runs above average (9.0) as well.
Juan Soto is focused on baseball and not his contract. On the heels of Fernando Tatis Jr. signing a 14-year, $340 million deal with the San Diego Padres, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Nationals locked up Soto well before there’s any threat of him leaving.
“For me, right now I’m playing baseball,” Soto said in regard to a potential contract. “I forget about it. I’m happy for [Tatis], he got his deal, but for me, my mind is in baseball. Since I got here, I tried to disconnect my mind from the world and just try to enjoy it with my teammates, to come here to the field and play baseball with my teammates.”
Who will be the next to ink such a monster deal, and which homegrown players will sign massive contracts to stay with their original teams? Hopefully both of Washington’s two National League Most Valuable Player Award candidates.
