The winter meetings started pretty slow, but boy did they gain some steam towards the end, at least from a Yankees perspective. They struck late on Tuesday in acquiring Alex Verdugo, and yesterday, their long dance with the Padres finally concluded with Juan Soto on his way to the Bronx. That’s the big headline of course, but there was a relative avalanche of Yankee news elsewhere too, what from the additional acquisition of Trent Grisham, the loss of two players in the Rule 5 Draft, Aaron Boone’s confirmation that the plan is for DJ LeMahieu to start at third base in 2024, and more.
It was a dizzying day, and we’ll have continued coverage of all the fallout as we move forward. Today we’ll see more reactions to the Verdugo trade, and of course some extensive analysis of the acquisitions of Soto and Grisham. And not to be lost in the shuffle, also check out the latest entry in our Top 100 series, from Matt on a player that authored a couple of the most underrated seasons in franchise history.
Questions/Prompts:
1. I know it’s seemed somewhat inevitable for the last couple days, but go back a month ago; how surprised would you have been to learn then that Juan Soto would actually become a Yankee?
2. How do you think playing time will shake out in the Yankees’ suddenly crowded outfield?