Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hitting back-to-back is a pitcher’s worst nightmare, and having Gleyber Torres and a healthy Anthony Rizzo bookend those two elite sluggers in the lineup should also cause a few sleepless evenings. Between this impressive top of the lineup, and fresh input from newly-hired hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler, there is plenty of hope that the Yankees can improve upon their strangely punchless offense from the 2023 season.
Soto is slated to hit free agency next winter as he heads into his age-26 season, and the outfielder and agent Scott Boras surely have an eye towards the biggest non-Shohei Ohtani contract in baseball history. Since the Yankees are one of the few teams who can afford such an expenditure, it’s certainly possible this won’t be Soto’s only season in the Bronx, but New York paid quite a premium for just one guaranteed year of Soto’s services.
Kyle Higashioka may have been expendable within the Yankees’ catching depth chart, but the real score for the Padres in the Soto trade was four talented and controllable young pitchers. Michael King emerged as an intriguing starter with New York last year and looks to step right into San Diego’s rotation — at worst, King can be a lockdown reliever for the Padres if he doesn’t stick as a starting pitcher. Drew Thorpe is a top-100 prospect who the Padres flipped to the White Sox as part of the Dylan Cease trade package. Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez are also big league-ready arms and one of them likely would’ve won a rotation job had Cease not been acquired.
