ESPN writer says Juan Soto deal 'one of the biggest trades in baseball history'

It was a blockbuster. There's no doubt about it. The Washington Nationals traded away superstar outfielder and slugger Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres at the MLB trade deadline.

It was a massive deal, because of Soto of course, but the trade also featured Josh Bell heading out west and a handful of players and prospects heading back to Washington.

Soto was without a doubt the marquee, though, and there's a reason for that.

The 23-year-old mega-star appears to have what it takes to be one of the greatest sluggers of all time. With a career batting average of .291, an OBP of .427, and an OPS of .966 with 119 home runs and 358 RBI to his name in just four and a half seasons, Soto has Hall of Famer written all over him.

According to the baseball writers at ESPN, Soto's star power as well as his projected future for the Padres made this move the biggest trade deadline deal of all time, and they made some points that are tough to argue. 

"Imagine Mike Trout getting traded in the middle of the 2015 season. Or Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993. Or Rickey Henderson in 1982. Or Willie Mays in 1954. Or Babe Ruth in...oh, wait, there it is. Yep, you might have to go back to the early part of the 20th century -- to Babe Ruth literally getting sold to the Yankees in the most infamous deal in baseball history -- to find a suitable comp to the Nationals trading a 23-year-old Soto," Alden Gonzalez wrote. "Point is: Players aren't traded when they're both this good and this young. This is different."

Joon Lee took it even a step further in his analysis of the trade.

"Forget just the trade deadline, this is one of the biggest trades in baseball history," he wrote. "This is right up there with Alex Rodriguez going from the Rangers to the Yankees. Combine the fact that Soto is one of the greatest players in the game with the fact that he's 23, and he's relatively unprecedented in the history of baseball in terms of offensive production. In the same way a player like Shohei Ohtani doesn't really have a comp, this trade doesn't have much of a comp either."

Soto is already a two-time All-Star and he's coming off a win in this year's Home Run Derby. He joins a Padres lineup that features stars like shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and third baseman Manny Machado.