The biggest deadline deal ever? Are the Padres the NL's new team to beat? What to make of blockbuster Juan Soto trade

Juan Soto is a San Diego Padre. In the biggest blockbuster of the 2022 MLB trade deadline, the Washington Nationals dealt the 23-year-old megastar for a treasure trove of top prospects.

Now that Soto will be playing his home games at Petco Park, what does it mean for the Padres and the rest of baseball this season and beyond? Has there ever been a midseason trade quite this monumental?

ESPN baseball experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Joon Lee, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield answer the biggest questions.

Alden Gonzalez: Imagine Mike Trout getting traded in the middle of the 2015 season. Or Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993. Or Rickey Henderson in 1982. Or Willie Mays in 1954. Or Babe Ruth in… oh, wait, there it is. Yep, you might have to go back to the early part of the 20th century — to Babe Ruth literally getting sold to the Yankees in the most infamous deal in baseball history — to find a suitable comp to the Nationals trading a 23-year-old Soto. Point is: Players aren't traded when they're both this good and this young. This is different.

David Schoenfield: Alden is right; there has never been a deadline trade with a young superstar like Soto. Indeed, he's the first player 23 or younger to be traded in-season in a year when he was an All-Star. And he's arguably the best hitter in the game (granted, he hasn't been quite as good this season, though he's been red-hot the past month). But to answer the question… it's hard to beat the shocking trade of Tom Seaver from the Mets to the Reds in 1977 (back when the deadline was June 15).

Bradford Doolittle: Bigger than the Royals trading for Stan Belinda in 2003? Maybe. But, yes, this has a great chance to go down as the biggest trade deadline deal ever. There is a