NEWSLETTER
It was picking back up last night, but the steam behind a Juan Soto trade to the Yankees seems to be quite robust right now.
To such an extent that it sounds like it’s going to happen today:
We’ll see, but this has the feel of one those situations where it’s just a matter of informing the players, reviewing medical information, and then announcing the deal.
If the Yankees relented on both Michael King (a potential breakout big league starter who could be a front-half guy in 2024) and Drew Thorpe (a 2022 draft pick who put together a year very much like Cade Horton and looks like a potential ace), then it’s just a monster get for the Padres.
UPDATE: Sure enough, this was all indeed prelude to a deal getting done:
UPDATE 2: Trent Grisham (and the $5-ish million the Padres would’ve owed him in arbitration) will also be going to the Yankees:
UPDATE 3: Things aren’t across the finish line yet, despite all that “finalizing” they were doing all day:
None of that means the deal won’t ultimately get done – both sides are pretty deep in at this point – but it isn’t official just yet.
UPDATE 4: Finally, it’s actually happening, and it could still be “today”:
King and Thorpe is much more than I thought the Padres could get for one year of Soto at $33 million, and it’s not like Brito and Vasquez are nothing either. Both are very useful pitchers with some upside. The Padres are completely rebuilding their rotation in a single trade, and all with cost-controlled players.
Clearly, the Yankees decided at some point this week that they simply had to have Soto, no matter the cost.
Now they’ll need to add a whole lot of pitching, because their starting pitching depth at the Triple-A/MLB-adjacent border shrunk massively between this deal, the Alex Verdugo deal, and three pitchers poached in the Rule 5!
