With three new additions (Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Anthony Rizzo) to an infield that already featured Luke Voit, Gleyber Torres, and D.J. LeMahieu, you knew it was just a matter of time before the Yankees traded away one of their position players. And with Rizzo in the fold at first, Luke Voit was the obvious choice.
Indeed, he’s off to San Diego, which could just be the start of a series of moves you’ve heard us discuss a million times (i.e. the Padres are about to trade somebody).
Breaking: Luke Voit traded to Padres
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 18, 2022
The big asterisk, however, is that Voit isn’t going to be particularly expensive this season ($5.4M projected via arbitration), which means the Padres shouldn’t need to shed salary quite as immediately. HOWEVER, positionally, there is a lot of overlap. Voit is a first baseman, or a DH, so keeping him *and* Wil Myers *and* Eric Hosmer just doesn’t make much sense either. Someone is going to be traded and the Cubs have been tied up in these rumors since the last trade deadline.
Stay tuned, I suspect a lot more is coming. We’ll update this post as soon as we know more.
Some additional thoughts as the news comes in: The Padres have been looking for another bat to add to their lineup all offseason, but they whiffed on Seiya Suzuki, Kris Bryant, and Freddie Freeman. Voit is a good option (though obviously several steps down from Freeman), and was connected to the Padres over the last 24 hours or so. I still thought one of the outfielders made more sense, but as Nick Castellanos inches closer to a deal with the Phillies, perhaps the Padres knew they had to act fast.
UPDATE: The Yankees are getting pitching prospect Justin Lang in the deal.
Justin Lang, pitching prospect, goes to Yanks in Voit deal
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 18, 2022
Lange, 20, was a Padres (supplemental) first rounder in the 2020 draft. He didn’t have a great first season last year in the complex league, but he’s still carrying a high upside arm that can reach 100 MPH.
UPDATE: It’s official.
The New York Yankees today announced that they have acquired RHP Justin Lange from the San Diego Padres in exchange for INF Luke Voit.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 18, 2022