Early Thursday December 6th, Juan Soto (OF) and Trent Grisham (OF) were headed to the Yankees in exchange for Michael King (RHP), Drew Thorpe (RHP), Johnny Brito (RHP), Randy Vásquez (RHP), and Kyle Higashokia (C). Juan Soto will hit free agency after this year and Trent Grisham will have three years on the Yankees. The Yankees needed a big left handed bat and they got two as they badly needed left handed bats, only having one left handed bat in Anthony Rizzo who only batted .244 last season. They also added Alex Verdugo on Wednesday, another left handed batter.
The Yankees GM Brian Cashman is showing that he cares about winning, making game changing moves with adding Soto and many more moves to come along. Brian Cashman said “It’s not just gonna be him, we gotta keep working at what else we can add. We want to make this the Mecca of baseball.” This move adds a lot of versatility to the Yankees roster as they have a primary center fielder that can play center field in Trent Grisham and not move players around to new positions.
This move could heat up the free agency as there are still many big names on the table including Ohtani, Yammamto, Bellinger, Hader, and many more. Every year there is always a big trade or signing that happens then the dominoes fall and everyone else starts signing. Ohtani is expected to sign with a team this weekend as the top teams that are claimed to be in the hunt are the Dodgers, Giants, Blue Jays, Angels, and Cubs.
This will benefit the Yankees a lot as it gives them many options between a platoon (When a batter is facing the same handedness pitcher the manager may choose to sub them out for a better match up ie R/L or L/R) or giving guys like Soto and Judge a day off when they need it and not losing their ability of play as they can just plug in someone from the bench and be fine. Soto will add more power to this lineup along with Judge as Yankee Stadium is famously known for their short right field porch and with Juan Soto being a lefty it will be easier for Soto to hit balls out to the right side.
“He’s gonna bring a lot of depth to the Yankees lineup. It just adds another lefty when we don’t really have many, so I love it. He’s gonna fit in right next to Aaron Judge,” Kyle Guerrero (12) said.
Juan Soto is a great addition as he has won the Silver Slugger Award four times and has won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019 along with three all star appearances. Juan Soto has a career .946 OPS (on base plus slugging) which is 27th all time. Soto may not be the best defender of all time but he isn’t the worst defender as he is in the top 18th percentile of arm strength.
“Soto’s defense does worry me a bit, but his offense will overpower his not so great defense,” Alwin Teruya (10) said.
The trade itself wasn’t a bad trade as the padres got back mostly pitchers which they needed badly and also got a catcher in Kyle Higashioka who could start but it’s too early to tell. Michael King is a good relief pitcher as he had an ERA (earned run average) of 2.76 and had 127 strikeouts last season. Johnny Brito, Drew Thorpe, and Randy Vásquez had little experience in the MLB last year and have a lot left to prove that could end up being really good.
Soto is on his contract year as he is a free agent after this season for the first time in his career and will need to show up big so he can get the big bucks. Juan Soto is a Scott Boras agent and Boras agents rarely re-sign with teams as Soto himself declined a 13-year $350 million contract from the Washington Nationals in 2022. Soto hasn’t had the best years compared to his years with the Nationals so he will need to pick his game up if he’s hoping for a contract extension.
The Yankees should be looking forward to having Soto as a lineup with him and Aaron Judge behind him with other star free agents possibly coming to the Bronx, who knows maybe the Yankees can pull one off and make a run for the World Series.