The New York Yankees are currently pushing all their chips to the middle in the Juan Soto sweepstakes. Soto is New York’s crowned jewel this winter and rightfully so.
But New York’s biggest rival, the Boston Red Sox, recently had a meeting with Soto and it reportedly went very well, according to MassLive’s Sean McAdam.
The New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays are also going to be very aggressive for Soto. Re-signing him, even if the Yankees threw $650 million at him, is far from a guarantee.
What would the Yankees’ emergency backup plan look like if they missed out on Juan Soto?
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Here’s what that emergency backup plan could consist of:
- Trade for St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley
- Trade for Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr.
- Sign first baseman Christian Walker, three years, $70 million
- Sign third baseman Alex Bregman, four years, $125 million
- Sign starting pitcher Blake Snell, four years, $115 million
- Sign relief pitchers Blake Treinen and Kirby Yates to one-year deals
I want to reiterate that there are a lot of different avenues New York could take as a backup plan for Soto. For example, they don’t need to sign Snell. They could sign Max Fried or Corbin Burnes instead. They don’t need to trade for Luis Robert. They could sign Teoscar Hernandez instead.
But the foundation of their “emergency backup plan” would remain the same. It would consist of multiple big moves. A few top bullpen arms would be added and a starting pitcher would likely be added too. They’d pursue two All-Stars at first and third base while also looking to add an outfielder to replace Soto in right field.
The Bronx Bombers would be much happier if they could just re-sign Soto and not have to worry about any backup plans though.
More MLB: This Blockbuster Cardinals-Yankees Trade Would Solve New York’s Bullpen Problem
