A JUAN-TRACK MIND
With Soto, it’s World Series or bust for Yankees this season
TAMPA — One of Gene Michael’s tenets for building championship Yankee teams was left-handed power in Yankee Stadium, which was woefully absent in recent years. But while the Yankees may have addressed that void in a big way with their acquisition of Juan Soto from San Diego, in doing so they violated another Gene Michael principle which was never give up good prospects for a player who isn’t signed.
Considering the circumstances, the Yankees have never made a trade with more potential risk than the deal for Soto in which they sacrificed Michael King, who was projected to be their No. 3 and possibly even their No. 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole, plus the minor league pitcher of the year in Drew Thorpe and two useful back-of-the-rotation/swing guys in Randy Vasquez and Jhony Brito. The prospect of having Aaron Judge and Soto, possibly the most explosive righty-lefty hitting combo in baseball, backto-back in the lineup has Aaron Boone understandably psyched about the Bombers this year. Championship or bust as he put it the other day.
And that’s what it has to be. Because even if Soto has another monster year, should the Yankees fail to reach the World Series for the 15th straight year, or, even worse, miss the postseason altogether like last year, due to a shortage of starting pitching, the deal must be considered a bust. It would leave the Yankees with another ring-less season and at the mercy of Soto’s agent Scott Boras, who still thinks he’s going to get a $500 million deal for the lefty slugger.
No question, losing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto was a gut punch for the Yankees, making signing Marcus Stroman for mid-rotation depth a necessity. But as much as Boone is going to bask at the sight of Soto hitting bombs this spring, he can be forgiven for also casting a wary eye on whoever is starting the games for him.
So far at least the news has been good on the starting pitching front. Nestor Cortes is reporting no ill effects with his rotator cuff which shut him down in August last year, while Carlos Rodon has reportedly already been clocking 97 mph as opposed to 92-93 this time last year at the outset of camp. Both have had the experience of pitching at the top of the rotation and both have had a history of injuries. If they can avoid the latter and come close to the former, this could indeed be a special seasons for the Yankees.
But there’s no getting around all the injuries that have plagued the Yankees these past few years, and with Vazquez, Brito and Thorpe gone, the reinforcement brigade has been thinned to two — righties Will Warren and Chase Hampton — both of whom have shown considerable promise but are still said to be a ways away from contributing at the major league level.
The good news for the Yankees is that the rest of the American League East teams all have issues, none more so it would seem now than the defending division champion Orioles who, a week after seemingly addressing their biggest need — a No. 1 starter — with the trade with Milwaukee for Corbin Burnes – lost last year’s ace, Kyle Bradish, with an elbow injury that is looking ominously like a coming Tommy John surgery. There are also legitimate questions about Craig Kimbrel adequately replacing Felix Bautista as their closer.
Meanwhile, the Rays are counting on raw rookie Ryan Pepiot, who they obtained from the Dodgers for last year’s ace Tyler Glasnow, to anchor their rotation while waiting on the midseason returns of last year’s Tommy John victims Shane McClanahan and Jeffrey Springs. They will also be without their best player, Wander Franco, indefinitely as he stands accused of sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic. Hard to see how they’ll come close to the 99 wins they had as division runners-up last year.
And the Red Sox did very little to improve their lot either other than signing the maddeningly inconsistent Lucas Giolito for their rotation, while the Blue Jays, who lost (and didn’t adequately replace) clubhouse leaders Matt Chapman and Brandon Belt, remain an underperforming enigma waiting for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ever live up to his ability.
So say what you will, even with losing out on Yamamoto, the Yankees did more than any team in the AL East this winter to improve off last season which Brian Cashman rightfully termed “a disaster.” If the starting pitching holds up, the Soto deal could have the same effect as another trade the Yankees made for a left-handed power hitter in Roger Maris 60-plus years ago, after they’d finished an uncharacteristic third and then went on to win five straight pennants.
Of course that’s assuming they’ll be willing to pay another $500 million Boras ransom for keeping Soto long term.