Guardians Insider Explains How to Get a Juan Soto Deal Done

Despite the recent MLB All-Star Game festivities, recent talk around the baseball world has surrounded Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto. With Soto's days in the nation's capital likely ending, several teams are expected to pursue his game-changing talents, including the Cleveland Guardians.

Pulling off a deal for a player of Soto's magnitude will not be easy. However, Guardians insider Zack Meisel has some theories on how Cleveland can pull off a trade for the 2022 Home Run Derby winner.

Juan Soto Guardians Rumors

According to Meisel, the first thing that a Soto-hungry team needs is a deep farm system to land the former World Series champion. Fortunately, the Guardians own "a league-high eight top-100 prospects," including the likes of right-handed pitcher Daniel Espino and outfielder George Valera.

Meisel also says that a team needs to have "enough major-league talent to be a contender with Soto" while also being ready to compete in his contract window. Even though the Guardians have room to grow, they are only two games back of the AL Central lead, highlighting how Soto could help bring them over the top.

The cost that it'd take to acquire Soto would certainly be worth it. The 23-year-old has 118 home runs, 355 RBIs and a .293/.427/.541 slash line in 555 career games. He leads the Majors with 452 walks since 2018 and was the runner-up in 2021 NL MVP voting.

Having said that, Meisel doesn't know if Cleveland's management will go all-in on Soto. He's under team control in 2023 and 2024 before becoming a free agent in 2025, so there is some uncertainty there.

The Guardians don't want to give up the farm to have Soto for two years, only for him to walk and join another organization. Meisel adds that the Guardians should use their resources "for someone else who is a clear upgrade."

Guardians World Series Odds

As it stands, FanDuel Sportsbook has the Guardians available at +10000 odds (No. 17) to win the 2022 World Series. If they can manage to pull off a Soto trade before next month's deadline, it'd be far from shocking to see their championship odds jump up.

This year's MLB trade deadline takes place on Tuesday, Aug. 2 at 6 p.m. ET.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.