Juan Soto reports on the rise of the Yankee Evil Empire. Will Aaron Judge move to center in the future?
The Winter Meetings ended with Juan Soto as the Yankees and Eduardo Rodriguez as the Diamondbacks. I’m here with Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal – welcome to Windup!
It’s fitting that Music City played like a concert setlist at this year’s Winter He Meeting. In other words, the song you didn’t come to hear continues for a long time, followed by the song you came to hear.
something like that. Shohei Ohtani has not yet signed a contract.
But while this year may have peaked relatively late, it ended on a high note, with the Yankees and Padres finally finalizing a deal that sent Juan Soto to the Bronx. The Yankees have Juan Soto and Trent Grisham.
Candidates include RHP Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Randy Vasquez, Joni Brito and C Kyle Higashioka.
This move revolutionized the Yankees’ roster, which was in the doldrums in 2023. From the Padres’ perspective, it fills a clear need for high-volume pitching, but it should be a bit of a disappointment for fans who were celebrating Soto’s arrival. team. The trade deadline is 2022.
The Padres qualified for the National League CS that year and had an eventful 2023 season, finishing in third place in the National League West with a record of 82 wins and 80 losses.
As for a return, Soto likely won’t be as good as the one the Padres gave up on, as he could become a 25-year-old free agent at the end of the 2024 season. Still, King has the potential to be a great player. After more than four years as a reliever, he started eight games late last season and posted a 1.88 ERA, and his career stats include a 3.38 ERA and 282 strikeouts compared to 247 innings. He was 2/3 with just 83 walks.
Major tournaments. championship round. He is also 28 years old and is scheduled to become a free agent after 2025. Perhaps King’s age is an advantage. Given the pitching lost to free agents (Blake Snell, Nick Martinez, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha), the Padres needed a major league-ready weapon. Meanwhile, Thorpe (who was named Minor League Pitcher of the Year) was the Yankees’ No. 5 choice, and Vazquez was No. 13, according to MLB.com.
Brito, 25, will be in charge of the team until 2029. Of course, none of them are Soto. But even if he becomes a free agent at the end of the season anyway, and even if the team takes a pay cut following the death of owner Peter Seidler and the loss of the television contract with Bally Sports, that’s a bad thing. isn’t it. thing. thing.
The return of a player on a one-year contract. Keith Law is a complete failure here, with Tim Britton, Grant Brisby and Stephen Nesbitt rated for deals here. Dennis Lin weighed in on the future of the Padres, and Brandon Coutee did the same with the Yankees. And Chris Kirshner says this deal means the return of the Evil Empire.
Ken’s Notebook: Changes in Aaron Judge’s position
From the previous column:
Let’s talk to Mayor, a former Yankees hitting coach who hates the idea of Aaron Judge playing center field. Sean Casey, please come to the microphone.
“No, no, no, no, I don’t want Judge to be in center field,” Casey said Wednesday on the “Mayor’s Office” podcast. “I think a centre-back is a very demanding player, and he is a very big player and to have him run in such deep spaces, he has to cover more ground as a centre-back. There must be. I don’t like the wear and tear on his body. …I don’t think Boonie thinks so either.
Booney, of course, is Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who said Wednesday that he has no problem with Judge playing center field. Later that day, the Yankees acquired true center fielder Grisham in exchange for Soto. But Judge is still destined to be the team’s starting center fielder unless the Yankees trade newly acquired Alex Verdugo, which doesn’t seem possible. Casey is right. It would be unwise for Judge to play center regularly. But Soto’s addition doesn’t leave the team with many options, and it’s a key move toward restoring the team as a “fully functioning Death Star,” to borrow the old words of Yankees GM Brian Cashman. This somewhat dulls the shine of this step. ”. “”
Let me tell you, Judge will play wherever Boone wants him to accomplish his goal of helping the Yankees win their first World Series since 2009. The addition of Soto, one of the top 10 hitters in the sport, will help the Yankees in that effort. However, given the current composition of the team, the most commonly used outfield configuration will probably be Soto in right, Judge in center, and Verdugo in left. This is not the best way to retain judges.
Leave a Reply