I hate the Yankees but......

[D. Bergin]

Soto is perfect for their lineup. I love his analytics, and if he and Judge can both stay healthy for a full season, they should score a lot of runs with the meat of that lineup. It will help Gleyber being more protected in the lineup also.

They did give up a lot of pitching depth for a one year rental however. Even if they sign him, let's face it...it's still a one year rental. Whatever the next team has to pay in years and dollars is going to be the true cost to acquire him.

Salary wise, he's a relative bargain for 1 year. For 11 years? That's another question entirely.

I'm not happy with losing Michael King. Wish they could have convinced them to take Clarke Schmidt instead. King was a huge depth piece who was almost un-hittable out of the bullpen, while also putting up some really good numbers in his spot-starting duties.

Drew Thorpe also killed it in his 1st minor league season last year, coming out of college. Hope that one doesn't bite us in the ass down the line.

All the other players are replaceable, though Jhony Brito is a grinder and I wouldn't be surprised if he made a decent 3rd or 4th starter down the line for somebody.

[packs]

The Yankees are generally right about their pitchers. They hold on to the good ones and deal the ones they feel aren't more than league average. As I said, aside from Eric Milton, I can't think of a single Yankees pitching prospect who was traded and went on to become an All Star in recent memory.

Juan Soto is a perennial MVP candidate. He is exactly the player you would hope your prospects turn into. It makes more sense to trade for him as he is than to hold onto Drew Thorpe in case he's almost as good.