'For that reason, Juan could no longer consider them and he knew it' - Scott Boras explains moment that changed Juan Soto's free agency journey

When the Washington Nationals decided to let star outfielder Bryce Harper walk in free agency after the 2018 season, the primary reason was because they had a young outfielder named Juan Soto on the roster that they believed was a budding superstar. 

The Nationals' tough decision to let Harper leave via free agency quickly proved to be the right one. 

Soto helped lead the Nationals to a World Series title in 2019 despite being only 20 years old at the start of postseason play (Soto famously turned 21 on the same day that game three of the World Series against the Houston Astros was played). 

Washington's decision to let Harper walk combined with Soto's breakout 2019 season (along with his young age) made it feel like the Nationals and Soto were a pairing that would last at least 15 years. 

But that's not how things turned out. 

The Nationals traded Soto in 2022 once it became clear that the future Hall of Famer wasn't going to sign an extension with the franchise. 

While the decision to trade Soto made sense from a baseball perspective, it was still perplexing at the time that the Nationals didn't hold on to the generational talent for the final 2.5 years that he was under team control in an effort to convince him to stay in Washington for the long haul. 

After all, hitters like Soto don't come around often.

Soto's agent, Scott Boras, made some comments recently during an interview with Graham Bensinger that show exactly why the Nationals decided to trade Soto in 2022. And it wasn't because they weren't willing to eventually pay the slugger what he felt he was worth. It was because Soto simply didn't trust the future of the franchise due to the uncertainty surrounding the ownership situation. 

"When the Nationals offered Juan a record $440 million (extension), which at the time was the largest contract in sport, and [it was] guaranteed, I said to Juan, 'What are your goals?' And he goes, 'I want to win'. He had already won a championship," explained Boras. "I said, 'Well, the ownership is selling the team, Juan. We have no way of knowing what the new ownership would be'. I go, 'They're using you as an asset to increase the valuation of the franchise, but that doesn't achieve your goals. Your goals are you want to know you're going to win and win annually'. And for that reason, Juan could no longer consider the Nationals, and he knew it, because they made the decision to sell the team."