The Washington Nationals avoided arbitration with Juan Soto, Trea Turner and Josh Bell on Friday, according to people with knowledge of each player agreeing to a salary for 2021. Turner’s salary for next season will be $13 million, Soto is due to make $8.5 million, and Bell will get $6.35 million.
The deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to file salary figures was Friday at 1 p.m. But even if the sides didn’t agree to terms by then, they could still negotiate and settle at any time thereafter. Turner received $5.55 million more than he made in 2020. Soto got a significant raise on his team-assigned $629,400 salary from last year. And Bell, whom the Nationals acquired in a recent trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, saw a $1.5 million bump after struggling through a season shortened by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Nationals entered this offseason with four arbitration-eligible players. They agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million deal with Joe Ross in early December. They then handled business with Bell, Turner and Soto, in that order, Friday. With Soto and Turner, two of their young starters, the Nationals probably settled with an eye toward signing both players to long-term extensions. And an amicable arbitration process is a step in that direction.
The Nationals acquired Bell to provide offensive support to Soto and Turner, who had little help in 2020. Washington sent prospects Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean to Pittsburgh with the belief that Bell will rebound after a down season. Two years ago, he hit 37 homers and had a .936 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. Anything close to those power numbers would be a big lift for the middle of Dave Martinez’s order. But it won’t change that Soto and Turner make the offense go.
Turner, 27, was due for a pay increase after leading the majors in hits and finishing seventh in National League MVP voting. He led all shortstops in a handful of relevant categories. As with Bell and Ross, the Nationals have salary control of him for two more seasons before he could hit the open market. In December, though, General Manager Mike Rizzo said extension talks with Turner may pick up this spring.
Soto was somehow even more dominant than Turner across 47 games. He led the majors in OPS and a host of other advanced statistics. At just 22, he is already among the sport’s best hitters. He may have threatened Cody Bellinger’s record salary for the first year of arbitration eligibility — $11.5 million — if not for the shortened year.
But $8.5 million is a big number for Soto to build on in the next three winters. Turner, by contrast, agreed to a deal worth $3.72 million in his first year of arbitration eligibility. Bell, eligible for the first time following his strong 2019, settled at $4.8 million last year. Soto, who became Super 2-eligible by accruing enough service time from 2018 to 2020, earned a platform that looks like a trampoline.
The star outfielder is set to become a free agent after the 2024 season. The Nationals, of course, would like to keep that from happening. The uncertainty of how to weigh his and Turner’s stats from last summer — and how to then translate them into dollars — was ripe for leaving the team and its top talent far apart. That they were able to bridge the gap is no small thing.
