Nationals President and GM Mike Rizzo joined MLB Network at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday, about 40 hours after the Juan Soto news broke that he was signing with the Mets…and there's clearly no animosity there at all.
“That made me happy. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid,” Rizzo told the panel. “We scouted and signed him for $1.5 million and he turned into a superstar before our eyes. He won a ring with us and went on to bigger and better things, and made a lot of money for himself. Good for him.”
A lot of pundits balked when Soto turned down a 15-year, $445 million offer from the Nats a few years back, but betting on himself netted him anywhere from $320-$360 million more in his deal with the Mets – and while Rizzo wasn’t surprised the offer was rejected, he was surprised that was the end of dialogue.
“I didn’t think he was crazy, because I knew he was such an ultra-confident player,” Rizzo said, “but I was hoping we’d get some banter and maybe find a way to stay with us.”
Soto was traded for a premium package, with four of the players now having seen big-league time in DC and three of them cornerstones of the current team – and it may be James Wood who is doted on the most, after making his MLB debut last season.
“He’s got a great future and his upside is tremendous. He has one of the ingredients to be a star in that he knows the strike zone,” Rizzo said. “The greatest hitters we’ve had in my time here have known the strike zone – he has that in him – and all the great hitters I’ve had in my career all had command of the strike zone; they didn’t chase much and knew their honey hole, and attacked the baseball.”
CJ Abrams was also a part of that deal, and Rizzo did not speak much about Abrams’ demotion to the minors in the final week of the season seemingly as a disciplinary move – but did answer this when asked how an organization can keep young players invested in tough situations like that.
“Communication. Just be a shoulder to cry on, and give tough love when you need it, but they have to know you care about them and their career, and CJ knows that,” Rizzo said. “He’s an ultra-talented player, and they know with the culture we’ve built here, we have a standard, and if you fail it, you have to be told about it. I think that’s what separates us from a lot of organizations – but when you come out the other side, you’re better for it.”
These Winter Meetings will hopefully lead to the Nationals supplementing their core, and as Rizzo and former Nat Mark DeRosa discussed all the ways Jayson Werth made the team better once upon a time, the GM agreed that some more veteran presence is a big desire.
“We’ve talked to a lot of people about a lot of good players. We need more talent, and some veteran presence for not only the clubhouse, but to hit in the middle and lengthen our lineup,” Rizzo said. “We need more power, and need to put some crooked numbers up a little easier, and marry that with the aggressiveness on the bases. We led baseball in steals but were bottom of the barrel in slug. And, you can never have enough good arms. We feel good where we’re atm and have a fertile system with guys who will help us in 2025 and beyond, but we have to keep moving forward and hit the gas, and supplement the young core of guys we have.”