Juan Soto Trade a Bold Move the New York Yankees Needed to Make

Major League Baseball teams and fans alike have spent the first month or so of the offseason anxiously awaiting the chance to see where two-way phenomenon Shohei Ohtani signs in free agency. But another blockbuster move involving one of the game's other best players will have to make do in the meantime.

The New York Yankees acquired three-time All-Star Juan Soto in a seven-player deal with the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night as the league's winter meetings came to a close.

Among the haul that went back to the Padres are right-handed pitchers Drew Thorpe, one of the top 100 prospects in MLB, and Randy Vásquez, the No. 13-ranked player in the Yankees' farm system. A steep price for Soto looks all the more expensive considering this offseason splash could just be a 1-year rental.

The 25-year-old outfielder is set to be a free agent after the upcoming season. But even if Soto walks after this year, acquiring a player on a Hall-of-Fame track after a down season in the Big Apple was an offer the Yankees couldn't pass up.

"Obviously, we are always certainly trying to be a playoff contender that can challenge for a World Series,'' Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, via USA Today. "And so when you fall short of that, you have the place this year, a lot of anger and questions[...] But that's our standing goal, so we're going to get back to it the best we can."

Message received.

The Yankees are coming off an injury-filled, "disaster" of a season, as Cashman called it. The Bronx Bombers failed to live up to their nickname, finishing 82-80 (fourth in AL East) and ranking 25th in the league in runs and tied 24th in OPS. It was New York's first time missing the playoffs since 2016 and the franchise's worst winning percentage since 1992.

So how does New York respond? In a very Yankees-being-Yankees way, with perhaps a touch of reckless abandon for good measure.

After Ohtani, Soto was the best hitter on the market this winter.

The lefty hit 35 home runs, posted a .930 OPS, and recorded a National League-leading 132 walks last season with the Padres. Soto already has four top-10 MVP finishes heading into his seventh MLB season. The 2019 World Series champion has a .946 career OPS, third-highest among active players with at least 3,000 plate appearances behind Mike Trout and new teammate Aaron Judge, per USA Today.

"He's a generational talent," Judge said of the trade, via Fox5NY. "His track record and his stats speak for themselves. Everybody in the Yankee Universe is pretty excited to have him on board."

But that kind of production is certainly going to come at a cost—whether New York is writing the checks or some other team. Soto will earn in the neighborhood of $30 million this season in his final year of arbitration. After that, there could be a bidding war. Soto declined a 15-year, $440-million extension during his time with the Washington Nationals, which prompted his trade to San Diego less than two years ago.

There are reports Soto is eyeing a $500+ million deal. The bottomless pit of money that is the Yankees may not have a problem meeting that price tag

But they may eventually face competition to do so.

Super agent Scott Boras, who represents Soto, declined to say to reporters at the Nashville meetings if his client would entertain extension talks. That would be an unlikely development, given Boras' history of putting together high-priced deals on the open market.

The Yankees realized the risk of Soto only being a 1-year rental. And they still approached this trade aggressively. For good reason. Their current corps of players (Judge is 31, ace Gerrit Cole is 33, etc.) isn't getting any younger. And after a season like the one that just happened in New York, Cashman was going to do something big.

Combine that with a Padres team coming off a similarly disappointing season with goals of cutting payroll, and the trade came to life.

"They clearly made it known that this was a deal and a player [they wanted]," Padres general manager A.J. Preller said, via MLB. "Brian is pretty direct, and I think they were pretty clear. Everybody understood they had a need and Juan is an incredible player who fit the need really well. When you have two teams that line up and you have a team that's calling you consistently, you feel this is something that has a chance to happen."

There were as many as 10 teams interested in acquiring Soto's services, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale. But the Yankees outbid all of them.

Now they have a hitter of Judge's caliber—or perhaps even above—to add to their lineup. And that's in addition to a separate trade with the Boston Red Sox for outfielder Alex Verdugo. Then, there's still the matter of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the star Japanese pitcher New York is still being linked to. So this offseason is shaping up to be a classic in the vein of George Steinbrenner.

A lot of money is being thrown around. There may be some risk involved—but that's fine.

"He's as good an offensive player as there is," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Soto before the trade was finalized. "He is a machine offensively—on base, power, and has accomplished a ton already at a young age."

And now he's a Yankee.