Architect of Juan Soto trade fired before truly seeing fruits of his labor

When the San Diego Padres acquired Juan Soto in 2022, it sent waves through Major League Baseball. The Padres gave up a serious haul to land the superstar from the Washington Nationals — one of the most dramatic prospect-for-superstar trades in recent memory. Now, nearly three years later, both franchises are still feeling the ripple effects.

For San Diego, Soto was everything they hoped for. He raked at the plate, earning an All-Star nod in 2023, winning a Silver Slugger, and finishing sixth in MVP voting. But the writing was on the wall — retaining Soto long-term would be a financial mountain the Padres weren’t prepared to climb. So in another headline-making deal, Soto was flipped to the New York Yankees ahead of the 2024 season, along with Trent Grisham, in exchange for a haul of major-league-ready players: Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez, Drew Thorpe, and catcher Kyle Higashioka.

That return was solid, but baseball fans have kept their eyes on the prospects the Nationals received back in the original blockbuster. And in 2025, those names are really turning heads.

Nationals’ big gamble on sending Soto to San Diego is paying off — too late for Rizzo

The trade that sent Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego in exchange for CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana, and Luke Voit was widely considered a foundational move for a rebuilding Nationals franchise. Abrams and Gore were near-MLB-ready at the time and have become staples in Washington’s lineup and rotation, respectively. James Wood is now breaking out into the star many projected.

Yet for all that promise, the Nationals have struggled to turn prospect capital into wins. General Manager Mike Rizzo and Manager Dave Martinez oversaw the early stages of a necessary rebuild following the 2019 World Series title. But as the years passed, it became clear that assembling a talented young core was only the first step — developing and supplementing it with a competitive roster was a different challenge altogether.

Ownership, particularly under Mark Lerner, deserves a significant share of the blame. Since 2019, payroll has been slashed, veteran leadership has been traded away or allowed to walk, and the vision for contention has remained frustratingly murky. Even as the team’s youth began to flourish, there was no meaningful investment to accelerate their progress.

Rizzo, whose trading acumen is unquestionable — the same GM who helped build teams that featured Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, and Juan Soto — has officially been let go. Martinez followed him out the door as well. Their dismissals, timed just ahead of the 2025 MLB Draft, are curious at best, and suggest deeper dysfunction within the Nationals' front office.

It’s worth acknowledging that Washington has never been particularly good at retaining stars. Harper, Turner, Scherzer, and Soto are all gone. Rizzo, at least, had a knack for turning those exits into something of value. Whether it was flipping aging stars for future assets or pulling off a rebuild-anchoring mega-deal, he gave the Nationals a fighting chance.

Now, with Rizzo and Martinez gone, the Nationals enter another uncertain chapter. The young core is exciting. The farm system is restocked. But leadership — true leadership — will be required to bring it all together. If Lerner and the new front office get this wrong, the Nationals could be staring down another half-decade of irrelevance.

If recent history has taught us anything, tearing it down is easy. However, rebuilding takes vision, patience, and trust — three things in short supply in D.C. right now.

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