Should Nationals Use Juan Soto Trade to Dump Patrick Corbin Contract amid MLB Rumors?
The Washington Nationals could really shake up the baseball world should they deal away 23-year-old megastar Juan Soto between now and the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
Depending on their approach, they could also clean up their financial books in the blockbuster swap.
That's apparently their aim, as The Athletic's Jim Bowden reported that Washington hopes to add "multiple major leaguers and top prospects" in the exchange "but also to offload the bad contract of pitcher Patrick Corbin."
Overpaying an underperforming player is never fun (or good for the bottom line), but teams won't trade away as much for a Soto-Corbin package as they would for Soto straight-up. So, is it worth it to include Corbin or not?
Why It's Worth Considering
The Nationals bought big on Corbin during the 2018-19 offseason, luring him to Washington on a six-year deal worth $140 million. It seemed sensible enough at the time, as Corbin was coming off an All-Star campaign in which he had a 3.15 ERA and 246 strikeouts in 200 innings.
He hit the ground running in the District and was electric in Washington's 2019 championship season (3.25 ERA, 238 strikeouts). Unfortunately, his numbers have declined ever since, while his salary has soared.
He's making $23.4 million this season, per Spotrac, and his salary will climb to $24.4 million next season before jumping to $35.4 million in 2024. That's a hefty amount for anyone, but it's maddening money for someone with Corbin's results. His ERA swelled to 4.66 in 2020, ballooned to 5.82 last season and is up to 6.02 so far this year.
He has trended down long enough to assume this won't be reversed, so it's hard to blame Washington for wanting a get-out-of-a-brutal-contract-for-free card.
The Potential Problems
While it's tough to say exactly what Soto's trade value is, it's clearly a metric ton.
When Bowden opined about potential trade packages for Soto, names of super-prospects like Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez, Josh Lowe, Nate Pearson, Miguel Vargas, C.J. Abrams and Marco Luciano were thrown around. And those would just be the headliners, not the entire package.
Soto can bring that type of return. Add Corbin to the exchange, though, and the trade cost goes down, possibly in a big way if Washington doesn't want to pay much or any of his remaining salary.
Getting out of an albatross contract has its perks, but there's a real cost, too.
Yes or No?
Admittedly, this is a trickier call than it seems, since the financial aspect is real.
It's easy to say the Nationals should stomach Corbin's salary to maximize their return when we're not the ones forking over copious cash to perhaps the league's worst starter since the start of last season. This gets even more complicated with the organization potentially changing hands.
And yet, while Washington might think that adding Corbin helps correct a mistake, it could actually just turn an old problem into a new one. Trading away a generational talent like Soto is a brutal process from almost every angle, other than the colossal return a team can get. Why cut into that return just to ditch a bloated pact?
The Nationals could ask for the sun, moon and stars for Soto, and someone might pay it. Heck, someone might go over the astronomic asking price, considering his age, ability and upside. Anything that cuts into that price doesn't seem worth it.