Whereas the season resulted in disappointing trend for the New York Yankees (particularly that horrific fifth inning in Sport 5), it was the Bronx Bombers’ finest 12 months in additional than a decade. Many elements contributed to their success, together with one other nice season from Aaron Choose, the resurgence of Giancarlo Stanton and a powerful pitching workers.
It was the addition of Juan Soto within the offseason, nevertheless, that appeared to place the Yankees excessive, as he had an MVP-caliber 12 months. However the query now’s whether or not or not he might be one and done. Going into the season, New York knew it had a terrific likelihood of re-signing him, and making all of it the way in which to the World Collection — with maybe the lure of many extra journeys to come back — may’ve been sufficient to get him to signal on the dotted line.
To this point, that hasn’t occurred. And whereas the hot-stove season has actually solely simply begun, the Yankees positively don’t need to be left holding the (cash) bag if Soto decides to take his abilities elsewhere. So what’s their backup plan?
Lately, the Yankees have been linked to a trio of first basemen. After all, the opposite huge slugger in New York awaiting a brand new contract is Pete Alonso. Whereas he didn’t have a terrific common season, Alonso got here alive within the playoffs and helped the Mets get inside a few wins of dealing with the Yankees for the championship. The Polar Bear might slot in properly with Choose and Stanton, and with the group deciding to not choose up the choice on Anthony Rizzo, first base is open.
Christian Walker is one other free-agent first baseman the Yankees appear to be doing their homework on. There have been additionally rumblings — significantly throughout the summer time — that New York could be considering trading for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. However since none of those guys play the outfield, making one other transfer to herald any person else could be required.
A reputation that has popped up quite a bit not too long ago is Teoscar Hernandez, whom the Yankees simply noticed fairly a little bit of within the World Collection. Whereas he’s performed two extra years than Soto, Hernandez’s numbers are literally fairly comparable, particularly in the case of residence runs, RBI and slugging share. Plus, Hernandez performs the outfield and would in all probability be quite a bit cheaper to signal. The draw back is that at age 32, he’s six years older than Soto and nearly actually received’t have as many good years left.
Anthony Santander additionally appears to be on the radar of the Yankees, and though he doesn’t have Soto’s numbers (who does?), he’s a switch-hitter with good energy who performs the outfield.
Another choice for New York? Don’t attempt to exchange Soto, at the very least not immediately. As an alternative of specializing in offense, the entrance workplace might focus on retooling its pitching workers by bringing in guys like Blake Snell or Max Fried. This might give kids like Jasson Dominguez an opportunity to earn their pinstripes. Then, if needed, the Yankees might look to scoop up any person earlier than the commerce deadline — maybe one of many guys talked about above.
