The New York Yankees have completed their blockbuster trade for Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres.
Multiple reports late Wednesday night say that Soto and Trent Grisham are heading to New York. Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Kyle Higashioka, Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez head to San Diego from the Yankees.
The move will spark huge excitement at Yankee Stadium with Soto linking up with Aaron Judge in the Yankees line-up and it is the landmark signing the team needed after an awful 2023 where they failed to make the playoffs.
Soto and Grisham, coupled with a Tuesday trade with the Boston Red Sox for Alex Verdugo, gives the Yankees a plethora of options around 2022 American League MVP Judge, who will likely play center field with Soto now joining.
Soto, a three-time All Star and four-time silver slugger winner, arrives with one-year on his deal but at 25, has the potential to evolve into a Yankee great.
‘They got themselves an all-time great, and that’s not hyperbole,’ Michael Kay said on YES Network as the news broke. ‘This guy is an all-time great.
‘Look at his numbers at the age of 25 and they measure up with DiMaggio, Babe Ruth – that’s the type of player they got. He’s that important, that impactful and he changes the whole thought process around the way that people look at the Yankees.’
‘He’s an impact bat, one of the best hitters in the game,’ General manager Brian Cashman told reporters at the Winter Meetings. ‘Clearly a calling card from the left side, which is an area of need for us. In that batter’s box, he’s a difference-maker.’
Soto has hit 160 home runs in his MLB career to date, and 483 RBIs to go along with 786 total hits and .421 on-base percentage.
He started at the Washington Nationals before joining the Padres at the 2022 trade deadline.
But signing Soto long-term became unrealistic for the Padres last winter when San Diego added shortstop Xander Bogaerts in free agency on an 11-year, $280 million contract while also retaining third baseman Manny Machado on a whopping 11-year, $350 million commitment.
Those contracts came after San Diego locked up Fernando Tatis Jr. with a 14-year, $340 million pact in February 2021.
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