It's going to be a wild week for the Washington Nationals, so buckle up. The August 2nd trade deadline is eight days away, and there will be tons and tons of rumors about what will happen with Juan Soto.

According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman, rival executives believe this team has emerged as potential frontrunners to acquire Juan Soto:  St. Louis Cardinals. In their latest article, Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that rivals view the St. Louis Cardinals as the favorites to acquire Soto. Both report that “there’s word that [the Nationals] like a lot of the Cardinals’ young players and prospects.”

The Cardinals have one of the better farm systems in the major leagues, ranking 16th in the majors by MLB Pipeline. Heyman and Sherman highlight top prospect and No. 7 ranked prospect in the entire league Jordan Walker, pitcher Matthew Liberatore, and shortstop Masyn Winn.

If St. Louis can bring in Soto at the deadline, that would certainly boost their NL Central race with the Milwaukee Brewers. Contract negotiations will, of course, be something for the team to worry about. But, Soto does not hit free agency until the end of the 2024 season.

By the way, the Nationals play the St. Louis Cardinals at home just days before the August 2nd trade deadline; things are about to get interesting.

More to come...