Insider: Yankees Should Replace Juan Soto With 2 Gold Glovers

MLB insider Jon Heyman believes the New York Yankees should let Juan Soto walk in free agency and spread out his money to sign two Gold Glovers.

The biggest free agent available is Soto who could fetch up to $700 million. However, Heyman of the New York Post believes the Yankees should spread out that money and sign Alex Bregman and Christian Walker.

“Bregman instantly would make the Yankees better defensively and headier fundamentally — two areas of desperate need. But he would not come worry-free,” Heyman wrote. “He is not an imposing guy and his righty power was definitely helped by the Crawford Boxes in Houston in a way the vast Yankees left field would work against him. His walk rate was cut in half in 2024.

And yet, in a Soto-free world, I think the Yankees should go for Bregman at third and the Diamondbacks’ Christian Walker at first,” Heyman added. “Have two legit Gold Glovers on the corners, with Chisholm back at second and Anthony Volpe at short. It is suddenly a very good infield defensively — and probably offensively too if you believe Volpe is going to improve.”

In Heyman’s idea, the Yankees would focus on improving its defense in the infield. They also would replace Soto’s bat with two hitters, thus making their lineup deeper.

Insider Says Yankees Should Spread Out Money

If New York does sign Soto to a long-term deal, it likely will limit what else the Yankees can do in free agency.

But, Heyman thinks Yankees general manager Brian Cashman should try to build a better and deeper team, rather than bringing back Soto.

“I think the Yankees have to not think about stars or man-to-man replacing Soto,” Heyman wrote. “But, rather having a better functioning positional group than the Keystone Kops who helped cost them a World Series…

“Again, there is no easy way to get the positional group correct with or without Soto,” Heyman added. “But the best path without him is to tighten the defense and fundamentals with good players while hoping some of the offensive loss is made up with Bregman/Walker and also a full season of Chisholm, a switch from Alex Verdugo to Dominguez and growth from Volpe and Austin Wells.”

Whether or not the Yankees will take Heyman’s advice is to be seen.

Soto Expected to Land Massive Contract

Soto is the top free agent available and at 26 years old, he will receive a hefty contract.

In MLBTradeRumors’ contract prediction, they have Soto signing a 13-year $600 million deal.

“There’s little doubt Soto will sign a contract of at least a decade in length,” the article wrote. “The question becomes one of how long a team will be willing to go at what figures to be a new record average annual value (setting aside Shohei Ohtani’s overwhelmingly deferred $700MM contract, which came with an NPV closer to $43.7MM, using the MLBPA’s number). A 12-year deal would pay Soto through age-37. But, it’s not out of the question that a team will go later into his career than that.”

Soto hit .288 with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs in 157 games with the Yankees last season. In the playoffs, he hit .327 with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs.

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