NEW YORK — Juan Soto is headed to the New York Yankees, thanks to their first major move after the team's worst season in three decades.
They hope at least one more big deal will follow.
New York acquired Soto — a 25-year-old outfielder and three-time MLB All-Star — and Gold Glove center fielder Trent Grisham in a blockbuster trade with the cost-cutting San Diego Padres that was completed late Wednesday night. San Diego received right-handed pitchers Jhony Brito, Michael King, Drew Thorpe and Randy Vásquez, along with catcher Kyle Higashioka.
It was the second megatrade involving Soto in less than two years. San Diego obtained Soto on Aug. 2, 2022, after he turned down a $440 million, 15-year offer from the Washington Nationals. The 6-foot-2, 224-pound slugger from the Dominican Republic made his Major League Baseball debut in May 2018, a little less than three years after signing with the Nationals as an international free agent.
His contract wraps up after this season, and he is likely to draw a salary close to $32 million for 2024 after batting .275 with 35 home runs, 109 RBIs and a .930 on-base plus slugging percentage in his only full season in San Diego. Whether his time in New York is similarly short remains to be seen, but Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday that his club's mission, just as it was during late owner George Steinbrenner's time, is to be "the mecca of baseball" and bring in "the best players in the world."
The franchise's 40 World Series appearances and 27 championships are both records, but the Yankees haven't made it to the Fall Classic since winning their most recent title in 2009.
"The future is always now," Cashman said. "So '24 is our focus — and trying to become that last team standing once again as we've done in years gone by."
Padres general manager A.J. Preller said his team needed pitching, and the swap adds young arms who will be with the franchise for several years.
"It's very difficult to make a deal where we're trading a player the caliber of Juan Soto, but if we did that we wanted to make sure we shored up a bunch of needs. We were able to get some depth, with quality," Preller said at a news conference Wednesday in Nashville, where the winter meetings for MLB team owners wrapped up after four days.
The Yankees went 82-80 last season, narrowly avoiding their first losing record since 1992 while finishing fourth of five teams in a highly competitive American League East Division and seven games out of a wild-card spot in the playoffs. Their batting average of .227 ranked 29th in the majors, better than only the 50-win Oakland Athletics.
In New York, Soto — he can play in either left or right field — joins an outfield that projects to have five-time MLB All-Star Aaron Judge in center and newly acquired Alex Verdugo in the other corner. Verdugo was traded by the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
Soto has an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.274 in nine career games in the Bronx.
"Soto and Judge are Gotham's new dynamic duo," said Scott Boras, who is Soto's agent.
Cashman was excited about having the left-handed Soto in the same lineup with the 31-year-old Judge, a right-hander, to make things harder on opposing pitchers.
As for their own pitching, Yankees executives will travel to California to meet with free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday, a person familiar with the planning told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because details were not announced. The 25-year-old right-hander was 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA this past season for the Orix Buffaloes of Japan's Pacific League.
"Onboarding pitching is going to be important," Cashman said.
Soto, like Verdugo, adds a left-handed bat to a lineup that was heavy on right-handers for several seasons. New York lefties had 55 homers and 171 RBIs in 2023, while righties had 164 homers and 479 RBIs, an imbalance for a team that usually takes advantage of Yankee Stadium's short porch in right field.
"They were aggressive," Preller said. "They had a need, and Juan is an incredible player and fit the need really well. When you have two teams that line up, and you have a team that's calling you consistently, you usually get a feel that this is something that has a chance to happen, and hopefully it's a deal that works out for both sides."
Conversations with San Diego began ahead of the MLB trade deadline this past summer, then resumed at the general managers' meetings last month. Negotiations were slowed during the fall by the death of Padres owner Peter Seidler and San Diego's search for a new manager.
Keeping outfielder Jasson Domínguez and shortstop Anthony Volpe out of a trade was a priority for the Yankees.
"But it didn't stop them from asking," Cashman said.
San Diego appears to be slashing payroll by as much as $50 million after flopping last season and missing the playoffs despite World Series aspirations on the heels of reaching the National League Championship Series in 2022. The Padres also have a need for starting pitching after reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha became free agents.
Soto's relatively young age at free agency will be comparable to that of fellow Boras client Bryce Harper, who was 26 when he signed a $330 million, 13-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies ahead of the 2019 season. Notably, Harper's first seven MLB seasons were with the Nationals.
Soto, who has a .284 batting average with 160 homers, 483 RBIs and a .946 OPS in six career seasons, helped the Nationals win the World Series in 2019.
Less than three years later, San Diego sent a bevy of promising prospects to Washington — including shortstop CJ Abrams and starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore — for Soto and first baseman Josh Bell. At the time, the Padres said the deal was worth it because they'd have Soto for three playoff runs. They did make a deep push in that 2022 season, but the Padres underwhelmed this year despite also having stars Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. in the lineup.
While the Padres could have attempted to sign Soto to a long-term contract, Boras generally prefers to have his star clients hit the free-agent market.
"It's great when you're able to sign players long term, but there's cost of doing that as well," Preller said. "For us, the ability to add players that are controllable (in their contracts), that we think are going to perform well, be with us for multiple years, I think from a big-picture perspective it was a move that just opened up a lot of different avenues for us."
King, a 28-year-old right-hander, averages 94-96 mph with his sinking fastball and had a 2.75 ERA last season while going 4-8 in nine starts and 40 relief appearances. He struck out 127 batters and walked 32 in 104 2/3 innings, excelling after moving from the bullpen into the rotation on Aug. 24.
King can become a free agent after the 2025 season.
Brito, who turns 26 in February, made his MLB debut with the Yankees last season and went 9-7 with a 4.28 ERA and one save in 13 starts and 12 relief appearances. He struck out 72 batters and walked 28 in 90 1/3 innings.
Vásquez, 25, also made his MLB debut this year and finished 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA in five starts and six relief appearances.
Higashioka, who turns 34 in April, has spent his entire seven-year MLB career with the Yankees and batted .236 with 10 homers, 34 RBIs and a .687 OPS this year. He was a favorite battery mate of 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole not only in New York but going back to their teenage years as teammates. Higashioka also can be a free agent next fall.
The 23-year-old Thorpe, selected in the second round of the 2022 amateur draft, was 14-2 with a 2.52 ERA at Class A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset this year. He struck out 182 batters and walked 38 in 139 1/3 innings.
Grisham, a two-time Gold Glove winner, batted .198 with 13 homers, 50 RBIs, 15 steals and a .666 OPS this year. He is eligible for salary arbitration and gives the Yankees a true center fielder likely to play a part-time role off the bench.