- The Washington Times - Sunday, March 13, 2022

When Mike Rizzo was asked Sunday about the team’s leadership void caused by Ryan Zimmerman’s retirement, the Washington Nationals’ general manager didn’t hesitate when discussing who the team’s leader is now.

“This is Juan Soto’s team,” Rizzo said confidently, maybe hoping that Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, was listening. 

Rizzo knows he has one of Major League Baseball’s best players in Soto and is eager to continue extension talks with the 23-year-old superstar, calling it the team’s “No. 1 priority.”

“We’re going to attack a deal with Juan Soto,” Rizzo said. “This is his team. He’s the face of the franchise. I want him here for the long term. We’re going to continue to talk and try to make him a Nat for a long time.”

Rizzo made the declaration when asked about the extension that Soto turned down in November.

Soto, the National League MVP runner-up in 2021, turned down the 13-year, $350 million deal before lockout began, and Rizzo explained the challenges the 99-day work stoppage imposed on negotiations. He added the team plans to restart negotiations “very soon.”

“We made the offer really right before we couldn’t talk to him anymore,” Rizzo said. “So there really wasn’t a lot of dialogue after because there wasn’t any time. We made an offer and all of a sudden the lockout happened.”

The offer that Soto, a free agent after the 2024 season, turned down would have been the third-largest contract extension in MLB history — behind only Mookie Betts ($365 million) and Mike Trout ($360 million).

• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.

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