Juan Soto shares revealing response to trade speculation

Jul 30, 2021; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals left fielder Juan Soto (22) in the dugout before the game against the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto is suddenly the subject of huge amounts of trade speculation, and he seems a bit unsettled by it all.

Soto offered up a telling quote about speculation that he may be traded after turning down a massive contract offer from the Nationals. On Monday, he was asked if he had heard from the Nationals about a change in their trade stance, and admitted that the conflicting statements make it hard to trust anything he hears.

"A couple weeks ago, they were saying they will never trade me. And now all these things come out. You don't know what to trust."

Pretty telling how Juan Soto feels pic.twitter.com/XCxjEVntcL

— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) July 18, 2022

“I haven’t talked with anybody to tell me how that changed or what was the mindset,” Soto said at All-Star media day in Los Angeles. “A couple weeks ago they were saying they will never trade me, and now all these things came out. It feels really comfortable. You don’t know what to trust. At the end of the day, it’s out of my hands, what decision they make.”

Whether the situation is the Nationals’ fault or not, they do seem to have left Soto feeling a bit alienated. After all, GM Mike Rizzo was very firm last month when asked about trading Soto.

This is not the first time Soto has suggested that he is not happy with the contract report going public. There definitely appears to be potential to harm the relationship between the two sides with how things have been handled.