After deals on Wednesday, Juan Soto is headed to the New York Yankees in their first big move following the team’s worst season in three decades.
They hope at least one more will follow.
New York acquired Soto and Gold Glove center fielder Trent Grisham in a blockbuster trade with the cost-cutting Padres.
Photo: AP
San Diego received right-handed pitchers Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez and Drew Thorpe along with catcher Kyle Higashioka.
It was the second monster deal involving the 25-year-old Soto in less than two years. The three-time All-Star slugger has one season of team control left and is likely to get a salary of about US$32 million after batting .275 with 35 homers, 109 RBIs and a .930 OPS in his only full season with the Padres.
San Diego obtained Soto from Washington on Aug. 2 last year after he turned down a US$440 million, 15-year offer from the Washington Nationals.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller said that his team needed pitching and the swap gives San Diego young arms who will be with the franchise for several years.
“It’s very difficult to make a deal where we’re trading a player the caliber of Juan Soto, but if we did that we wanted to make sure we shored up a bunch of needs. We were able to get some depth, with quality,” Preller said at a late-night news conference in Nashville, Tennessee, where the MLB’s winter meetings were wrapping up.
New York went 82-80 last season, narrowly avoiding their first losing record since 1992, and finished 29th among the 30 major-league teams in batting average.
Soto joins a Yankees outfield that projects to have fellow All-Star Aaron Judge in center and newly acquired Alex Verdugo in the other corner.
Soto has a 1.274 OPS in nine career games in the Bronx.
“Soto and Judge are Gotham’s new dynamic duo,” agent Scott Boras said.
Yankees executives on Monday are to travel to California to meet with free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a person familiar with the planning told reporters on condition of anonymity because details were not announced.
The 25-year-old right-hander was 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA this season for the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Pacific League.
Soto, like Verdugo, adds a left-handed bat to a lineup that was righty heavy for several seasons.
Yankees lefties had 55 homers and 171 RBIs last year, while righties had 164 homers and 479 RBIs, an imbalance for a team that usually takes advantage of Yankee Stadium’s short porch in right.
“They were aggressive,” Preller said. “They had a need and Juan is an incredible player and fit the need really well. When you have two teams that line up, and you have a team that’s calling you consistently, you usually get a feel that this is something that has a chance to happen and hopefully it’s a deal that works out for both sides.”
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