Juan Soto, Yankee

[imref]

Deal is done per Sherman. Official announcement soon.

"Juan Soto, Padre" can be found here - https://www.wnff.net/index.php?topic=40261.0
-Chief

[Senatorswin]

My first thought was Judge and Soto in the same lineup, wow. But then last year it was Soto, Machado, Tatis and Bogaerts and I didn't see them in the playoffs.

[skippy1999]

I’ll always love Juan. Hope he does great but the Yankees continue to suck

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I’ll always love Juan. Hope he does great but the Yankees continue to suck

I hope he is frustrated with the rest of the team and the city and decides he will never play for an NY team again after this year. Puts in his next contract a no frickin way clause that bars trades to NYY and NYM. That, and he signs with Boston or for MLB minimum the next 15 years.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Deal is done per Sherman. Official announcement soon.

I think we officially refer to this deal as the Trent Grisham plus deal.

So, the Yankees have traded 7 pitchers from their system over 36 hours, plus they lost 3 pitchers in Rule 5? I'm just waiting for the next splurge to bolster the rotation.

[Mattionals]

Question, what were the players the Yankees given up ranked in their system and how many were overall top-100 guys?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Question, what were the players the Yankees given up ranked in their system and how many were overall top-100 guys?

King is kind of an established, effective reliever who started some in the past and is thought to be mid-rotation caliber. Thorpe is a big upside starting pitching candidate who had a good year in A+ and AA. His FG page says he was #5 in the NYY system. Brito and Vazquez I believe made the majors last year and are currently bullpen pieces.

This return is exactly what the Padres needed in a Soto trade. It’s still going to hurt their chances of contending in 2024, because again, they just traded Soto. But King in particular will shore up their rotation right away; he’s an easy fit as their third starter. Thorpe, Brito, and Vásquez will likely all contribute major league innings for them as well. Higashioka is affordable and might be their best catcher right away

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/yankees-acquire-juan-soto/

[Natsinpwc]

Padres really needed pitching. And a catcher.

[Slateman]

Thorpe was 99 in the top 100. The highest King got in the Yankees rankings was 12 in 2019. After his cup of coffee, he was down at 25 in the Yankees top 30.

If King turns in to a mid-rotation starter, then the Padres did pretty good here. But King has had elbow issues in the past, and only has a handful of starts as a sample size.

[Mattionals]

King is kind of an established, effective reliever who started some in the past and is thought to be mid-rotation caliber. Thorpe is a big upside starting pitching candidate who had a good year in A+ and AA. His FG page says he was #5 in the NYY system. Brito and Vazquez I believe made the majors last year and are currently bullpen pieces.
 https://blogs.fangraphs.com/yankees-acquire-juan-soto/

Wow, I'm really loving the Nats trade of Soto even more now. We gave up a year and a half to San Diego, got Abrams, Gore, and hopefully Wood as regulars, if not more than regulars. The Yankees gave up at best a 45 FV prospect and solid yet underwhelming pieces for a season of Soto. Beautiful.

[Natsinpwc]

Wow, I'm really loving the Nats trade of Soto even more now. We gave up a year and a half to San Diego, got Abrams, Gore, and hopefully Wood as regulars, if not more than regulars. The Yankees gave up at best a 45 FV prospect and solid yet underwhelming pieces for a season of Soto. Beautiful.

We got the haul for 2 and a half years of Soto. And then the Padres turned the last year (with Grisham) into what they got.  Agree it was as good a deal as possible for the Nats. Two regulars already and hopes for more. And a couple of months is seeing Voit’s chest hair.

[Senatorswin]

August 26,27,28. Here comes the Judge waving his magic Juan.

[imref]

I might be mindfacting here, but Soto has been a slow starter these last few years. If he's hitting .200 or so on May 1, he'll get his chance to deal with the NY media.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

August 26,27,28. Here comes the Judge waving his magic Juan.

I'm hoping they are bad enough and he's good enough that they will trade him at the deadline to another team with a legit shot at the playoffs.

Let's go Rizzo, LeMahieu, and Gleyber!

[imref]

I'm hoping they are bad enough and he's good enough that they will trade him at the deadline to another team with a legit shot at the playoffs.

Let's go Rizzo, LeMahieu, and Gleyber!

it's going to be interesting to watch. Fangraphs noted that if you take away Judge, the rest of the Yankees offense was worse than KC last year. Soto and Verdugo certainly improve things, but OF defense is still weak (and having to play Judge in CF raises injury risks).

Behind Cole their rotation is a huge question mark. It seems likely that they'll add at least 2 more starters, maybe Yamamoto.

[welch]

Question, what were the players the Yankees given up ranked in their system and how many were overall top-100 guys?

The Yankees farm system was ranked around 20th or below, and the Padres got a sampling of ordinary / mediocre pitching prospects. Preller got snookered again.

[HalfSmokes]

The Yankees farm system was ranked around 20th or below, and the Padres got a sampling of ordinary / mediocre pitching prospects. Preller got snookered again.

Peeler has to cut cost and a rental with a $33 million salary has limited value, especially when so many teams are facing massive financial uncertainty

[imref]

The Yankees farm system was ranked around 20th or below, and the Padres got a sampling of ordinary / mediocre pitching prospects. Preller got snookered again.

King was projected as the #3 starter in the Yankees rotation next season.

[Natsinpwc]

Peeler has to cut cost and a rental with a $33 million salary has limited value, especially when so many teams are facing massive financial uncertainty

It’s not a bad return.  They needed a starter and Higashioka is better than what they had at catcher (low bar).  One of the other might pan out.  In the end seemed like only the Yankees were bidding. 

[Slateman]

It’s not a bad return.  They needed a starter and Higashioka is better than what they had at catcher (low bar).  One of the other might pan out.  In the end seemed like only the Yankees were bidding. 

Its not a bad return if King can be a starter

[IanRubbish]

I’ll always love Juan. Hope he does great but the Yankees continue to suck

He's led the league in walks three years straight and will very likely be an on base machine for the Yankees.  But there will inevitably some negativity with the NY media he hasn't had to deal with in easier going DC and San Diego.  Will be interesting to see how he deals with it.

[welch]

From The Athletic:

As for the return, it was never going to be quite as good as what the Padres gave up since Soto can be a 25-year-old free agent at the end of the 2024 season. Still, King could be great — he put up a 1.88 ERA in eight starts at the end of last season after four-plus years as a reliever and has a career stat line that features a 3.38 ERA and 282 strikeouts against just 83 walks in 247 2/3 big-league innings. He’s also 28 and will be a free agent after 2025.

Michael King is heading to San Diego to provide pitching help for a depleted corps. (Eric Canha / USA Today)
Maybe King’s age is a perk. The Padres needed arms that are big-league-ready now, given the innings they lost to free agency (Blake Snell, Nick Martinez, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha). Meanwhile, Thorpe (who was named the minor-league pitching prospect of the year) was the Yankees’ No. 5 prospect according to MLB.com and Vásquez was No. 13. Brito is 25 years old and under team control through 2029.

https://theathletic.com/5120717/2023/12/07/juan-soto-trade-yankees-where-will-aaron-judge-play-the-windup/

[blue911]

King was projected as the #3 starter in the Yankees rotation next season.

A role he’s never held before, never even started 10 games in a season as he enters his age 29 season with only 2 years of team control.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

It's just pretty wild that they could trade 10 pitchers in a bit over a day and still not give up Schmidt.

Thorpe is a nice piece. It's a reasonable package / salvage for one year of a guy with Soto's talent. I think it's mostly a high floor. King will give them something, even if the innings get to him. He's had a pretty good track record. Brito and Vasquez will be useful in the bullpen, although not Hader. Even Higashioka will start. It'll be interesting to see if the Padres get Lee from Korea

[Slateman]

A role he’s never held before, never even started 10 games in a season as he enters his age 29 season with only 2 years of team control.

Its interesting, Preller essentially did with Soto what I proposed with Lane Thomas. Gamble on a guy who could be great, but also has durability concerns.

If King goes the season as a number 3, its a really good trade for Preller. In fact, he gets that from King, the Padres probably push into the playoffs.