Juan Soto rejecting extension from Nationals is perfect for Dodgers

Could a lack of foresight from the Washington Nationals once again benefit the Los Angeles Dodgers?

At the trade deadline, LA was the beneficiary of Washington switching gears and moving Trea Turner. And it was likely because the second-richest owners in baseball didn’t want to meet his asking price after he rejected their contract extension offer.

On Wednesday, we learned the Nats might be playing a similar game with generational star Juan Soto, who was reportedly offered a 13-year, $350 million contract at 23 years old. It seems insane that he turned it down, but he was right to, because when he’s a free agent after 2024, he’ll likely get somewhere between $450-$500 million, assuming he stays healthy and continues on his current trajectory.

And what do you know. Looking ahead to 2024 and 2025, the Dodgers have … very few players on the books. Mookie Betts and Chris Taylor remain the only constants. Even Walker Buehler is a free agent by then!

What does the Nationals-Juan Soto news mean for the Dodgers?

Though Betts is signed through 2032, the Dodgers, by the time Soto becomes a free agent, will have more than enough financial flexibility to make him a $40 million AAV player. The one obstacle is that both Betts and Soto play right field, but that situation will more than likely sort itself out should the Dodgers bring in the current Nationals phenom.

Just think about how perfect this is. All of Justin Turner, AJ Pollock, Max Muncy, David Price, Trevor Bauer, Cody Bellinger and others will be long gone by then. They will have minimal financial commitments — or at least will have the flexibility to limit other major ones — by the time Soto’s free agency arrives.

Even with a Trea Turner extension as a possibility, the Dodgers can still probably make this happen given their penchant for blowing by the luxury tax thresholds. And if the next CBA gives them more of a cushion, it might be a shoo-in.

Factor in guys like Diego Cartaya, Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, Michael Busch, Andy Pages, Miguel Vargas and others coming up the Dodgers’ pipeline within the next couple of years, and we could see a one-of-a-kind collision of top young talent and free agent stars take the baseball world by storm.

There are only a few teams that can make Soto the highest-paid player in baseball history — he’s this generation’s Ted Williams and will continue to be of a rare breed when he hits the open market at 26 years old. The Dodgers are one of them, and if the stalled talks between Soto and the Nats persist through 2024, we can assume LA will be at the front of the line because it’ll be hard to pass up acquiring a talent of Soto’s caliber to usher in a completely new era of World Series-contending Dodgers baseball.

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