The winter meetings in Nashville kicked off with Lou Piniella being screwed and concluded with Juan Soto finally being traded. In between, Shohei Ohtani held everyone hostage and now comes the first-ever head-to-head faceoff between the New York behemoths Yankees and Mets for a premier free agent, in this case Yoshinobu Yamamoto. As all the baseball folks began gathering at the Opryland Hotel last Sunday, the Hall of Fame announced that the 16-member Contemporary Era Committee had elected former Tigers and Pirates manager Jim Leyland to Cooperstown and that was...

It is fair to expect Hall of Fame-type numbers from Juan Soto next season. After all, those are the types of numbers he has put up throughout his career. It is probably not fair to expect the 25-year-old will use the short, right-field porch in The Bronx to challenge home run records. Sure, it is possible that Soto takes advantage of his new home ballpark and scrapes a few extra home runs down the right-field line, but he is not the poster child for hacking a Yankee Stadium that is...

Yankees land superstar Juan Soto in a blockbuster deal at Winter Meetings. He with Judge are the new Bronx Bombers

Juan Soto is headed to the New York Yankees in their first big move following the team's worst season in three decades. They hope at least one more will follow. New York acquired Soto and Gold Glove center fielder Trent Grisham in a blockbuster trade with the cost-cutting...

After the Yankees finally landed Juan Soto, the Mets expected to be alone in the race for Yoshinobu Yamamoto — not so fast, says Andy Martino of SNY. On Friday, Martino reported that the Mets were caught off guard by an earlier report indicating that Hal Steinbrenner was willing to significantly increase payroll to land the 25-year-old righty. Sign up HERE for our twice-weekly newsletter on the offseason changes It’s not all bad news in Queens, however. Steve Cohen’s trip to Japan to meet with Yamamoto and his family earlier...

Although professional athletes perform on the biggest stages under immense pressure while earning a wage that most people can only dream of, sometimes they are just like their fans. On Wednesday night, as the New York Yankees consummated a trade for outfielder Juan Soto, one of their pitchers and the gem of the haul for the San Diego Padres, Michael King, was receiving updates while on a date with his fiancée and without access to a popular MLB channel. Sign up HERE for our twice-weekly newsletter on the offseason changes...

Most teams can only dream of trading for a hitter as talented as Juan Soto. Most teams will never acquire a player on the inside track to Cooperstown, who may not have entered his prime yet. The Yankees aren’t most teams. They’ve had the good fortune — the wealth, as well as more championships than any American sports team — to travel that route many times. The need for Soto — a left-handed power hitter with unparalleled plate discipline and the highest on-base percentage (.421) of all active players —...

All Star outfielder Juan Soto, who turned 25 in October, will be wearing New York Yankees pinstripes in the coming season. On December 7, the Yankees obtained Soto, along with outfielder Trent Grisham, in a seven-player trade with the San Diego Padres. The Padres received right-hander Michael King, and prospect pitcher Drew Thorpe, along with right-handed pitchers Jhony Brito, and Randy Vasquez, along with major league catcher Kyle Higashioka in return. The left-handed hitting Soto can now take aim at the friendly right field stands at Yankee Stadium. This will...

Juan Soto gives the Yankees the jolt their lineup desperately needed. After missing the playoffs with an 82-80 record and finishing near the bottom of the American League in most batting categories, they dropped the bombshell trade of the MLB Winter Meetings by acquiring him from San Diego. Along with Aaron Judge, they will now stack two of the best hitters in the world back-to-back in their lineup. In the outfield though, they have a handful of puzzle pieces that don’t seem to interconnect. That’s well worth the tradeoff, but...

In 2014, Brian Cashman was deep into talks with the San Diego Padres about obtaining Chase Headley and described the process of making trades as often being something that takes a while to develop with text messages constantly flowing between both interested parties. Over nine years later, the Yankees pulled off another trade with the Padres and a deal of greater magnitude than landing Headley and judging by comments Cashman made it sounds many ideas and concepts were exchanged before the sides agreed to the seven-player deal that netted Soto...

The manager, who’d seen the Yankees struggle through a long season in which they’d uncharacteristically finished only a couple of games over .500, was delighted at the prospect of adding such a powerful bat, just in time for the player to play his age-25 season. The player was left-handed, “just what the doctor ordered for the home yard,” according to the skipper. He could run. He was an excellent corner outfielder, too. And at 25, he was just entering the prime of his career. “I’ve admired him from afar for...