Who Was Juan Soto Traded for in 2022? 34 Years Later, It Has More in Common With the Herschel Walker Trade Than You Think

Juan Soto has been in spectacular form this year. People consider him the top hitter in the MLB to date. He leads the offensive players list with a 7.1 WAR and a 171 wRC+. The coming 2024 season might see Soto emerge as a free agent; for now, he’s proving that the San Diego Padres’ significant trade back in ’22 did not fall through.

MLB saw one of its wildest moments in history when the Washington Nationals traded their star outfielder Juan Soto to the Friars in 2022. Interestingly, Soto’s trade was very similar to another fantastic trade made in professional sports history 34 years ago. It bore much resemblance to the 1989 Dallas Cowboys’ Herschel Walker trade in the NFL. How do two different sports have so many similarities within their trades?

A tactful trade of talents

1989 saw the Dallas Cowboys trade their favorite running back, Herschel Walker, to the Minnesota Vikings. The Cowboys made their move during one of the worst seasons in franchise history, but they didn’t trade their star performer because of his bad form. They traded Walker so that the Vikings would fare well in their upcoming games. One would think that trading the best player would prove to be harmful to the team’s performance; however, Walker’s case proved to be quite different. The Cowboys gave three draft picks, along with Walker, to the Vikings; in return, they received eight draft picks and five players.

The Cowboys used two out of those eight picks to select safety Darren Ray Woodson and running back Emmitt Smith. Woodson went on to become a three-time Super Bowl champion, a three-time Pro Bowler, and a three-time All-Pro in his tenure. Smith, on the other hand, etched his name in the NFL Hall of Fame in the future; he still tops the NFL’s player list with the most rushing yards with a staggering 18,355 yards.

Herschel Walker’s form saw a sharp bend down the road after his trade. He could not manage to keep up with his time with the new team. That ironically made the trade extremely profitable for the Cowboys; they won three Super Bowl championships, three NFC Conference championships, and 12 NFC East Divisional championships since 1989. This brings up the question: did the Nationals get the same talent back in return for Juan Soto?

The Juan Soto Trade: A miss or a match?

The Washington Nationals traded Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres for a player lineup that was worth $20.5 million at the time. The list of players that the Nats received included first baseman Luke Voit, outfielders C.J. Abrams, Robert Hassell III, and James Wood, pitcher MacKenzie Gore, and shortstop Jarlin Susana. They were picked in the three first-round and two second-round options that the Nationals were offered. Three of the players traded were part of the top eight picks in the years 2017, 2019, and 2020.

Much like the Walker trade, the Nationals got back more than the worth of their share after giving Soto away, making it one of the most bizarre yet interesting trades in MLB history. Many baseball analysts have agreed to call this one of the greatest hauls to come out of a trade in the history of baseball, similar to the Walker trade.

ESPN columnist Jeff Passan tagged the trade as the largest package to be ever seen for an individual player. He claimed that Soto balanced the amount of talent that the Nationals traded with junior players like Gore, Hassell, Abrams, and Susana. Passan’s co-host tagged the trade as a “King’s Ransom” to measure the weight of the talents brought in instead of Soto. A little nugget behind the trade you may know: Soto rejected the Nationals’ offer of a $440 million deal for 15 years before they finalized Soto’s trade. However, Soto’s journey after the trade proved to be quite different from Walker’s.

Winning is the motto of Juan Soto

At 25 years of age, Juan Soto has a career-high 157 OPS+, which ranks fifth on the list of the highest OPS for players in his age group. He is leading the National League in third place with a 19.4% walk rate in 108 walks; thirteenth place in runs with 97 runs; tenth place in homers with 35 homers, and second place in on-base percentages with an impressive .410 OBP this season. It doesn’t need to be said that the Padres did not lose the trade game in a similar way that the Vikings did with Walker.

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The NFL Pro Hall of Fame has recognized Dallas Cowboys’ Walker trade maker and general manager Gil Brandt as one of the greatest administrators in football’s history. Fans will need to wait and watch if Nationals GM Mike Rizzo embraces a similar future or not. Soto’s upward curve of performance proves to be an asset for MLB, regardless of his imminent future of becoming a free agent in the 2024 season. What other records await us in his prime time on the diamond? Only time will tell!

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