If you’re going to move forward with a league-altering blockbuster trade, it’s always a good idea to make sure the appropriate parties all signed off on the deal. That didn’t seem to happen with the Tuesday trade that would send Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the San Diego Padres.
They can thank Eric Hosmer for that.
As details of the huge trade started to go public, we learned that the Padres first baseman was initially part of the trade to the Washington Nationals AND that he had a no-trade clause for trades to Washington. It got to the point where there were conflicting reports about whether the trade hinged on Hosmer’s approval, which of course is always fun. Nobody seemed sure about what would happen — whether it be a negotiated buyout, a blown-up trade or the trade going through anyway without Hosmer.
