The Yankees Make The Necessary Move And Acquire Juan Soto From Padres

The instant Juan Soto rejected the $440 million offer of a new contract from the Washington Nationals in the middle of July 2022, speculation was rampant whether the Yankees would be involved.

At the time, the Yankees did their due diligence like most teams would do but they also did not necessarily need to do it based primarily on their lofty position atop the AL East.

This time around, the Yankees were the logical destination once it surfaced the Padres were paring payroll after 82 wins – the same amount as the Yankees in a tedious season that saw a nine-game losing streak in August and a month of playing inconsequential games in terms of the standings.

Shortly after Soto hit the trade market and eventually was dealt to the Padres for an impressive haul of prospects that included C.J. Abrams, the Yankees started sputtering. Eventually they regained their footing, won 99 games but fell flat in a big way by not being able to hit in the ALCS against the Astros.

While the Yankees were struggling to hit during their nine-game postseason, Soto and the Padres made it through the 100-win Mets and Dodgers before succumbing to the Phillies. He went 4-for-12 to beat the Mets and though he was 7-for-36 in the next two rounds, his impact was something the Yankees were missing, which is essentially what GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone pointed out in their remarks to reporters at the Winter meetings in Nashville.

“He’s a transformational bat,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. “He’s one of the best hitters in the game. He’s impact, period.”

“He’s good an offensive player as there is,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He is a machine offensively — on base, power. He has accomplished a ton already at a young age. Durable. He has been a central figure in a world championship team.”

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And it never was more apparent than what unfolded in 2023 when the Yankees batted .227 — a mark so bad that only the Oakland A’s were worse. It was a move the Yankees had to make even if Soto in the lineup for more than one year is not guaranteed as of now.

Coming off an 82-win season, no team should ever stand pat and rely a return to normal from several underperformers and the Yankees seemingly subscribed to this theory by getting the young, dynamic left-handed slugger they missed on by not pursuing Bryce Harper after the 2018 season which coincided with Soto helping the Nationals win the World Series by hitting .333.

Nothing is guaranteed but on the surface Soto’s addition potentially makes the Yankees more dynamic than anything they trotted out in 2022 and most certainly significantly better than last year when Aaron Judge was productive despite missing nearly two months with a broken toe. All you need to do is check the stats from what the fourth spot in the order looked like.

The Yankees had 1572 at-bats from lefties last season, a number shortened because of Anthony Rizzo’s concussion that kept him out for the final two months. In the 612 at-bats out of the cleanup spot, the Yankees combined for a .217 average while using 11 players.

Now the Yankees possess a roster with the MLB OPS leaders since the start of the 2018 season. Judge is first at .980 and Soto is second at .846 and four points ahead of Mookie Betts, whose trade came full circle with this offseason when the Yankees acquired Alex Verdugo Tuesday night, getting the biggest return piece for the Red Sox to serve as part of the outfield rotation.

Now they have someone who is a top-10 MVP finisher four times and a power threat who mixes in the coveted walks. Soto hit 35 homers last season and walked 132 times and achieved those feats in 162 games while only Anthony Volpe and Gleyber Torres played at least 150 games for the Yankees.

The Yankees did not clinch their spot in the World Series parade by merely obtaining one of the best power hitters in the game. There still is some work to do, notably with pitching, but getting Soto beats the alternative of watching him go to another AL rivals and it represents a start on the road to redemption after barely avoiding a losing season for the first time since 1992.