h716a5.icuSome trades make too much sense not to happen. Juan Soto to the Yankees is one of them.
The Padres will trade Soto to reduce their payroll as he enters his platform season before free agency. The Yankees for years have needed a big left-handed bat, especially to make pitchers challenge Aaron Judge more often. Soto is the perfect fit.
The holdup is the Padres value Soto as if banking the Yankees will re-sign him—as something more than a rental. That’s not necessarily the case. But even if it’s a one-year trial, it’s a trade New York must make. Michael King is a nice pitcher with outstanding stuff, but he last threw 110 innings in 2018. He does not get in the way of acquiring one of the five best pure hitters in baseball.
The added pressure for the Yankees comes from timing and history. The timing: They went 82–80 last year with an offense that ranked 29th in batting average, 27th in on-base percentage, 25th in runs per game and 22nd in slugging. New York cannot run back the same outfit. The history part of it is how the Yankees, in recent years, have too often shrunk from acquiring impact players.
It was Cliff Lee in 2010. The Yankees had a deal with the Mariners, but balked when Seattle wanted to substitute Adam Warren, Ivan Nova or Eduardo Núñez for injured infielder David Adams. Lee and the Rangers then beat New York in the ALCS. In ’17, it was Justin Verlander. He went to the Astros in a trade and beat the Yankees in the ALCS. The next year it was Gerrit Cole, who also went to Houston as New York did not want to part with Gleyber Torres or Miguel Andujar. Also in ’18 was Bryce Harper, whom the Yankees didn’t want because they had outfielders such as Andujar, Clint Frazier and Brett Gardner. (New York decided Harper could not play first base.) All those teams that made the big acquisitions on which the Yankees passed—the Rangers, Astros (twice) and Phillies—went to the World Series.
Lee, Verlander, Cole, Harper. Is Soto the next impact player on which the Yankees take a pass? That potential cost is greater than whatever it costs to add exactly the type of hitter they need.