The San Diego Padres clearly were not the only team to aggressively pursue Juan Soto. In fact, one American League team made their own fairly significant offer early in the process.
The Seattle Mariners made a strong offer for Soto when the Washington Nationals initially made the outfielder available, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Mariners led their offer with shortstops Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo, but putting forward the team’s two top prospects did not get them particularly close to adding Soto.
Marte and Arroyo were ultimately traded to the Cincinnati Reds as part of the package to acquire starting pitcher Luis Castillo.
If nothing else, this shows just how high the Nationals’ asking price was for Soto all along, and how few teams could have even met it. The Mariners were undoubtedly not alone in making what they felt was a strong offer that got them nowhere. Considering what Washington ended up getting for Soto, the approach worked out for them.
