Morning Rundown: Juan Soto trade, Winter Meetings recap
Juan Soto traded to the Yankees caps the Winter Meetings in Nashville
There’s nothing like a massive blockbuster trade to cap off the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee.
After much speculation, the San Diego Padres finalized a trade to send Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees in exchange for five players.
The Padres acquired Soto during the 2022 season before hitting 35 home runs this past year.
This gives the Yankees an outfield of Soto, Aaron Judge, Grisham, and Alex Verdugo, acquired in a separate trade from the Boston Red Sox. They also have Giancarlo Stanton, who could factor in more of a DH role now.
Four of the five players the Padres got in return were pitchers - Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, Drew Thorpe- and catcher Kyle Higashioka.
With the Winter Meetings over, here’s a look back at everything that happened to the Pirates.
They acquired Marco Gonzales in a trade with the Atlanta Braves in exchange for a player to be named later. Ethan went over the payroll implications of the trade on Wednesday.
Ben Heller was also signed to a minor league contract, with an invite to spring training. He’s dealt with injuries throughout his career but pitched fairly well in his time with the Braves last year.
He’ll be an intriguing arm to watch for the Pirates and could end up one of the first pitchers called upon should they need someone not on the 40-man roster.
The second-ever MLB Draft Lottery occurred, with the Pirates getting the ninth overall pick.
Despite only having a 2% shot, the Cleveland Guardians ended up with the first overall pick, with the Cincinnati Reds also jumping from outside the top 10 to second.
Finally, the Pirates didn’t make a selection or lose a prospect in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft. They had only protected Braxton Ashcraft and Tsung-Che Cheng earlier in the offseason, leaving notable names like Malcom Nunez, Matt Gorski, and Jase Bowen open to being selected.
In the minor league phase, they lost four players, including Dariel Lopez, to different organizations. They also made four selections, including former first-round pick out of Clemson, Seth Beer, with some major league experience.
Feels like Ethan has prepped us for what they finally admitted in the Mackey article the other day. They aren't going to make any substantive effort to increase payroll and use the TV deal as the reason.
One thing I like about what the Padres did is that they gave up some very good prospects to go all-in with Soto, but when that didn't work out they were able to turn around and get some very prospects and young players back. They probably came out slightly behind in net talent but of course that is the cost of getting a player like Soto for a pennant race and the following season (though because pitching is in such demand I might like their return as much as what they gave up).
All to say, it's a good model that even a lower revenue team like the Pirates could follow--when you're in a race, trade top prospects for a superstar with 2+ years of control knowing that you can recoup much of the prospect capital later if it doesn't work out. Those opportunities don't come up often as it takes a superstar on a team that has decided to rebuild, but I hope that we'd be open to that kind of trade in the future.