Juan Soto, Juan soto, Juan Soto is clearly
what the Yankees need. He's an elite offensive player
controls the strike zone has power is a good hitter
. He's got the personality to play in New York
, a star player in the prime of his career
. Everything. The Yankees don't do well offensively.
He actually does exceptionally well. I think from,
uh I think probably overall good matchup for both teams
. Um you know, I know the Yankees and
, and Brian had mentioned that, uh you know
, obviously they're, they're looking for, you know
, impact left hand bat and obviously it won't fit
very well for them. And I think from our
standpoint, the ability to, to add to the
, you know, four arms to the pitching staff
, uh pitchers that we think have both sealing and
, you know, also we will be able to
pitch for us this year and compete for time this
year and in our rotation, uh and adding a
catcher, um you know, like that goes with
Campusano, goes with Sullivan and, and shores up
a position for us at the end of the day
, I think, um you know, the combination
of, of, of those two things really,
really added up for us. Juan Soto has been
traded to the Yankees along with Trent Grisham catcher Kyle
Higa Oka and four pitchers. Remember the Padres are
losing three pitchers in free agency, starting pitchers in
a free agency, plus their closer Josh Hader,
they're getting, uh Michael King who pitched so great
out of the rotation in the last month of the
season last year, Dr Thorpe, who's one of
the bigger Yankee prospects, uh pitching prospects, uh
Randy Vasquez and Johnny Brito, who had kind of
been up and down pitches last year, star relieve
minor leagues. So there's gonna be four pitchers and
I would expect that all four of them at least
three will be on the team to start the season
. And I think all four of those guys will
pitch for the San Diego Padres in 2024. That
is a significant hall of talent to give up for
a player. I know they got Trent Christian as
one of the best defensive center fielders in the game
. He had under 200 the last two seasons for
the San Diego Padres, a superstar in Juan Soto
is the big fish one year of control. That
is a large hall of talent to give up for
a guy that you might not keep beyond 2024 2
years of control left for Mike King, Drew Thorpe
. He is the prize the 2023 minor league pitcher
of the year in all of minor league baseball,
they believe he could be a front line starter down
the road king at the least is a high bred
relief difference maker. And then for the last six
or so weeks of the season, he got put
into the rotation and he was not a good starter
. He was one of the 10 best starters in
baseball over the last six weeks of the season,
Drew Thorpe obviously has all control hasn't pitched in the
major leagues yet considered a guy with a real power
changeup. Does he have enough fastball? The other
two guys are probably swing guys pitch at the back
of the rotation help you in the bullpen, et
cetera because of who Michael King is as a upside
pitcher and who he has been as a person with
Yankees. I think that's the tougher one for them
to lose. John Haman with more breaking news.
Eduardo Rodriguez agrees to a diamondback deal. 80,000,004 years
besting option could take the 99 million over five years
. That's the national league champs who people thought were
fluky. 84 win team kind of ran through the
national league playoffs. Got to the World Series saying
, nope, we wanna stick around a while because
now, now you do Gallen Kelly that who emerged
during the, during the postseason and now Eduardo Rodriguez
, suddenly you have four and we saw the young
positional group there. We saw the blossoming of bullpen
arms like Ginko in the postseason. The Diamondbacks don't
want to be a flash in the pan. This
is a very aggressive move for an organization like this
. Craig Kimbrel has a new home. We have
agreed to terms with Kimbrell on a one year contract
for the 2024 season, a club option for 25
. Welcome to Burland Craig, the Baltimore Orioles get
a new closer. I think this is a great
move. You go out. If you're not going
to spend the money on hater, you go out
and you get a good Craig Kimbrel who has been
great throughout his career. Still 23 for 28 the
caper nine is still there. I love his veteran
presence. I know a lot of the guys,
young guys in that Baltimore clubhouse. He pushes Cano
back to the eighth inning where he seemingly was much
more comfortable. So I, I like the movie
. He is uh one of the best closers in
baseball history at this point. Uh He's still got
a lot in the tank and uh he had a
really solid season last year and we see a lot
of things from a scouting perspective going forward that has
this place in a pretty big bet that this guy
is going to have a really good season for us
. I feel way more structured when we think about
our bullpen now to, to have um Craig in
there and, you know, the plan is for
him to be the closer. And we were very
clear about that when we signed him and that's what
we wanted him to do. Otani told a clubhouse
source during the season that he liked the Dodgers and
Jays if he left the Angels and those two teams
look like they have a chance. Now, Otani
expected to decide on his free agent destination before the
end of the weekend. To me, it's down
to the Dodgers and the Jays as the two best
options for show Dodgers obvious. We thought that all
along they fit every check mark that he was looking
for a chance to win. Stay in Southern California
, everything right there. We know Shohei likes playing
in controlled environments, whether Southern California or in domes
. He loves and I mean, loves hitting at
Rogers Center in Toronto. He has said that ballpark
reminds him so much of his home park when he
played for the Fighters Sapporo Dome on the right.
This makes so much sense. Greg, in terms
of comfort level for Otani, we tend to break
down free agent deals on how many years, how
many dollars. It's a different cat here. It's
about what he does is so unique. What it
takes for him to prepare to do what he does
is so unique. The comfort level matters most and
I think Toronto fits everything like a glove for shoe
. Otani Yamamoto expected to meet with the Yankees in
the US. On Monday, the Yanks seen as
one of the top candidates to sign Yamamoto along with
the Red Sox Giants Dodgers and Cubs at 25 years
old. I like what I see enough to invest
10 years with the pitch ability. The stuff is
there. The price of poker for Yamamoto is going
up, especially if the Dodgers miss out on show
. This is from the Saint Louis Cardinals. Welcome
back. Yadi Yadier Molina has been named special assistant
to the president of baseball operations and he joins a
list of guys who have recently been getting this position
in, in a situation like Yadier. There's no
way that John Mulock cannot grow by sitting in a
suite with a guy who has hauled every pitch for
the last 20 years for the Cardinals. Certainly in
their biggest moments, managed so many different bullpens and
personalities. I think he's going to have some big
influence. It was really a can you believe a
moment, you know, you never dream of these
things when you're starting when my first goal was to
do major league baseball. My second was to do
a World Series and to win a World Series.
But this is nothing that was on the radar ever
. And uh it's just such a thrill to be
honored by my peers and especially with the Cooperstown connection
because I spent so much time there. I mean
, I went to college 50 miles away and uh
to have my name in that broadcasters section overlooking that
great window with the statues of Johnny Padres of Roy
Campanale outside is just amazing for more on these and
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baseball everywhere.