The New York Yankees will be heavily linked to Washington Nationals star Juan Soto in the coming weeks.
Contract extension talks between Soto and the Nationals broke down recently, leading to reports that the struggling team is indeed willing to listen to offers for its best player.
Whenever a big-ticket name like Soto becomes available, the Yanks will always come up in conversations. Given that the MLB-best Yankees have a pretty elite farm system and a need for another outfielder, this is magnified further.
The interesting dynamic here is the status of Aaron Judge as a free agent following the 2022 season. Could Brian Cashman and Co. simply opt to replace Judge with Juan Soto? It makes some sense given the fact that Soto is still only 23 and Judge just recently turned 30. He could also look to pair the two up together, creating a modern-day Murderers’ Row.
With that in mind, let’s check in on how a Soto trade to the Yankees might look ahead of the Aug. 2 deadline.
Projecting a Juan Soto trade to the New York Yankees
The Yankees have been hesitant to even discuss top prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza. That will likely change if they become suitors in what will be a widespread sweepstakes for Soto.
Juan Soto stats (2018-22): .293 average, 117 HR, 354 RBI, .968 OPS