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The Washington Nationals are languishing at the bottom of the standings in the National League East, which justifies their stance as sellers ahead of the approaching 2025 MLB trade deadline on Thursday.
The movement has already started for the Nats, with the New York Yankees acquiring infielder Amed Rosario on Saturday. A pitcher could be next in line to be gone in Washington, with right-hander Michael Soroka apparently generating some buzz.
In a trade deadline update, Jon Morosi of the MLB Network provided a note on Soroka.
“RHP Michael Soroka 🇨🇦, drawing interest from multiple contenders, is the Nationals’ scheduled starter tonight. Expectation is Soroka will make the start; his value is trending in the right direction, with a 3.71 FIP since the start of June,” Morosi wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday morning.
The 27-year-old Soroka makes sense as a rental for a contender. He is playing on an expiring contract that pays $9 million in 2025, and if he shines on the mound this Tuesday night against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park in Houston, the 27-year-old hurler could have an even bigger target on his back from pitcher-needy clubs.
Soroka only has a 3-8 record to go along with a 4.85 ERA through 15 starts so far in the 2025 MLB regular season, but as Morosi mentioned, he's been better of late. He has allowed just two earned runs or fewer while going for at least four innings on the mound in four of his last five starts. In his last two outings, Soroka gave up just two earned runs on five hits with nine strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings versus the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds.
Serious injuries to his Achilles have taken away his 2021 and 2022 seasons in the big leagues, but he's been growing his stock of late.
A former MLB All-Star with the Atlanta Braves in 2019, the same year that he was the runner-up in the National League Rookie of the Year award, Soroka, if he gets traded, could have half of his salary this season paid for by the team that lands him. That seems like a reasonable sum for a team looking to shore up its rotation.
