No Soto? No Problem: Yankees’ Path to a Championship Roster
It’s mid-November, and by now, the ill-fated Yankees championship run has finished its transformation into its final form: offseason anxiety. You will read plenty of articles, blog posts, and tweets about the “perfect” plan for how the Yankees should approach the 2024-25 off-season. Some are better than others.
However, there’s one thing they will all have in common – retaining Juan Soto. And rightfully so! Soto is so elite of a talent that he simply is not replaceable. But what if the Yankees can’t bring him back? What if Steve Cohen and his Strega Nona checkbook refuse to let the Yankees come close to their best offer?
Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole will play next season at ages 33 and 34, respectively. The window is closing. How can the Yankees compete for a ring even if they lose Soto to Queens (or somewhere else, I guess)?
How the Yankees can Build a Championship Roster Without Juan Soto
Before I get started, a few assumptions I’m abiding by:
- Assuming the Yankees choose to carry a payroll around where they were last year, they’ll likely have around $70-80M to spend. That number could jump up around $90-100M, if they find trade partners for Trent Grisham, Jose Trevino, and/or Marcus Stroman.
- I can make only 2 major MLB trades. Any more starts to become unrealistic.
- The Yankees should be 1 of 30 teams to go all out for Roki Sasaki, but given he’ll be effectively free for whichever team signs him, he’s the ultimate luxury. He’s also probably a Dodger or Padre. So I’m not relying on him for this plan.
- If the Tigers were actually dumb enough to entertain offers for Tarik Skubal, as has been rumored over the past 18 months or so, I would trade anyone for him. Anyone. But I can’t imagine Detroit actually does that, especially after their 2024 finish.
And of course, the ultimate preface to this plan – signing Juan Soto is the best way forward. Period. This plan falls under the what-if scenario in which they fail to bring him back. Nothing more.
