The Yankees bounced back from their disgraceful loss to the White Sox by beating the worst team in baseball history 4-1 on Tuesday.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
1. For every game that comes off the schedule, Yankees fans are one day closer to not having to watch Gleyber Torres or Alex Verdugo play for the team. But for every game that comes off the schedule, it also means Yankees fans are one day closer to Juan Soto possibly no longer being a Yankee.
It’s a thought I don’t even like to think. It’s a world I don’t want to envision: one without Soto on the Yankees. But it’s a very real possibility and given Hal Steinbrenner’s knack for crying poor in every opportunity he gets despite the Yankees generating more revenue than any other team in the game, it’s a world Yankees fans must be prepared to live in.
2. On Tuesday in Chicago, Soto single-handedly beat the White Sox, hitting three home runs and driving in all four of the Yankees runs in their 4-1 win. Without him, the Yankees would have suffered a second straight defeat to the worst team in the history of baseball, a team that has won two games in a month. It was the first three home run game of Soto’s career, but it was already his sixth multi-home run game as a Yankee, having had one two days earlier as well.
3. “I feel like in watching Juan, I’m watching one of the best seasons I’ve ever seen,” Aaron Boone said. “I try not to take it for granted. I just know that is one tough at-bat, every single day.”
Boone is watching one of the best seasons he has seen, or anyone has seen. And he’s smart to not take it for granted since as of now there are only 41 guaranteed games remaining with Soto in a Yankees uniform.
4. Aaron Judge called Soto “the greatest hitter in the game” despite Judge having a season rivaling his historic 2022 campaign. Soto, in turn, called Judge “the greatest one” on Tuesday.
Judge may be the AL MVP frontrunner, but he’s right that Soto is “the greatest hitter in the game.” Soto, at age 25, already has 193 home runs and 739 walks. When Judge was Soto’s age, he had played in 45 major-league games.
5. Soto is just four months older than “kids” Oswaldo Cabrera and Ben Rice and only nine months older than Austin Wells. He will be 26 years old on Opening Day 2025, coming off the best season of his career and having not yet entered his prime. He’s the guy you open the checkbook for and give him whatever he wants.
6. “Look, we went and got him and paid a big price to bring him here, because we know what a special player he is,” Boone said. “We’ve seen every bit of that and probably more.”
The first part of what Boone said is why I feel the Yankees will re-sign Soto in that the Yankees “paid a big price to bring him here.” I don’t think they went into this thinking it would only be a one-year thing. But once he hits free agency, it’s out of their control, unless they are the highest bidder.
7. The Yankees are set up to be able to pay Soto with Torres’ $14.2 million and Verdugo’s $8.7 million coming off the books. That’s $22.9 million right there. Add it to Soto’s current $31 million, and there’s the roughly $50 million per year it’s going to take to keep him. Factor in Wells, Cabrera, Rice, Anthony Volpe, Luis Gil and Jasson Dominguez all making nothing in terms of major-league salaries and the Yankees are set up to meet Scott Boras’ demands for Soto.
8. Re-signing Soto isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Without him and with him signing elsewhere, the countdown for the end of Torres and Verdugo may have been for nothing with the Yankees potentially re-signing one or both with the funds put aside for Soto. Losing Soto would be disastrous because the Yankees wouldn’t have him making them worse, another team would making that team better and the available free agents not named Juan Soto aren’t once-in-a-lifetime talents.
9. We know what the Yankees are without Soto, even with Judge at his best. I don’t want to relive that over and over until Judge exits his prime. At 32, who knows how long Judge has left of his prime. I don’t buy the idea Judge would be upset by being the second-highest paid player on the team behind Soto, who will undoubtedly sign for more than the $40 million salary Judge receives. With salaries rising each year, are the Yankees supposed to not sign anyone until Judge retires and is no longer the highest paid player on the team? I think Judge wants to win to erase being the face of these Yankees, a group that hasn’t won in his first seven seasons, and Soto helps his chances at winning.
10. With Soto (25), Wells (25), Volpe (23), Rice (25), Dominguez (21) and Jazz Chisholm (26), the Yankees would set up for the foreseeable future with a strong, young core to potentially have the kind of future the last core could have had, but didn’t. It all hinges on re-signing Soto. If the Yankees don’t re-sign Soto then none of it matters. If they don’t re-sign him, being a Yankees fan won’t matter.
Last modified: Aug 14, 2024
