While he acknowledges that the New York Yankees’ desire to bring back Juan Soto is “most acute,” ESPN Insider Jeff Passan offered up some options if the free-agent slugger signs somewhere else.
The team’s top priority is the retain Soto, who began taking initial meetings with prospective teams last week.
However, in the event Soto signs elsewhere, there are other options the Yankees could target as a Plan B in order to re-create Soto’s production in the aggregate.
“For example, they could sign Willy Adames to play third base, move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to center field, let Aaron Judge take Soto’s spot in right, sign Christian Walker or Pete Alonso to play first base, and add Blake Snell to the rotation — all for less than re-signing Soto will cost,” Passan wrote.
While this may be less than the deal that Soto would be expected to land with the Yankees, it would potentially leave them with a payroll between $380 and $445 million.
MLBTradeRumors predicted that Adames will sign a contract worth $160 million and Snell at five year $160 million. Walker is likely to get three years at $60 million and Alonso five years at $125 million, MLB Trade Rumors predicts.
The 29-year-old Adames set career highs in hits (153), doubles (33), home runs (32), RBI (112, tied for the fourth most in MLB), stolen bases (21) and walks (74) in 2024. The former Tampa Bay Ray and Milwaukee Brewer is the top available shortstop this offseason.
Snell opted out of his two-year, $62 million deal with the San Francisco Giants after a season of extreme splits. He pitched to a 9.51 ERA through his first six starts with the Giants and went on the injured list twice within the season’s first three months.
In the second half, he was one of the most dominant starters in baseball, striking out 114 strikeouts over 80 1/3 innings. Of course, Snell is just one year removed from winning the NL Cy Young Award with the Padres, the second of his career.
Alonso is a four-time All-Star coming off a down season in which he hammered a career-low 34 home runs for a full season and drove in just 88 runs. He is a four-time All-Star with a career .854 OPS. Walker, a three-time All-Star, hit 26 homers and drove in 84 runs last season.
