Yankees acquire Juan Soto in massive trade with Padres

In a seismic offseason move, the Yankees acquired Juan Soto in a trade with the Padres. 

San Diego received pitchers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka in the deal, with New York also getting outfielder Trent Grisham to back up its revamped starting outfield.

The left-handed hitting Soto is an excellent fit for the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium and provides New York a big-time bat to pair with Aaron Judge to form the most feared 1-2 punch in the American League.

The 25-year-old Soto, who is a three-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner, is considered by many to be one of the most accomplished young hitters of this generation, drawing comparisons to Ted Williams.

After the Yanks acquired Alex Verdugo from the Red Sox on Tuesday night, SNY's Andy Martino reported it would not stop them from also dealing for Soto.

Talks between both sides hit a hiccup this past weekend, with New York balking at what it viewed as an exorbitant asking price. But with a solid framework in place, the deal moved quickly once the two sides re-engaged.  

As far as where Soto will fit positionally, he will be used primarily as a right fielder, with Judge in center field and Verdugo in left.

Soto's defense has slipped in recent years after he was a finalist for the Gold Glove for left field in 2019. He has spent the majority of time in right field in recent seasons, and right field is a much easier position to play at Yankee Stadium than left field.

Before the trade, general manager Brian Cashman called Soto "a transformational bat" and said "he’s impact, period."

"He’s an impact bat, one of the best hitters in the game," Cashman told reporters at the Winter Meetings. "Clearly a calling card from the left side, which is an area of need for us. In that batter’s box, he’s a difference-maker."

In his six-year MLB career, Soto has already hit 160 home runs, 148 doubles and tallied 483 RBI with a .284/.421/.524 slashline and a 157 OPS+. Soto’s .946 OPS is the best of any player who’s played at least 700 games since 2018, the year of his MLB debut.

His best attributes are his exceptional batting eye and plate discipline. He's led the league in walks three times, and his 640 walks since 2018 give him 136 more than any other player in that span. His 16.6 chase percentage this past season was fourth-lowest in baseball.

Soto won the 2019 World Series in Washington in his second big league season. In the run to the title, the then-20-year-old had 18 hits in 17 games, including five home runs (three in the World Series against Houston) with 14 RBI while posting a .927 OPS.

He won the NL batting title in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with a .351 average, a year he led the NL in OBP (.490), slugging (.695), OPS (1.185) and OPS+ (217) over 47 games.

After a midseason trade to San Diego in 2022, Soto saw his average dip and strikeouts increase in his last 214 games. But he still managed to lead the NL in walks (132), equaled his career high for doubles in a season (32), and set a new career-high in home runs (35) while posting a .930 OPS (158 OPS+) during the 2023 season.

According to Statcast, Soto’s 55.3 hard hit percentage was fourth-best in the big leagues last season, a year he was in the top five percent in average exit velocity, expected slugging percentage, weighted on-base average and expected weighted on-base average.