The contract has an interesting structure. The Yankees can bring Cole back by adding 1 year to the contract, which they will almost certainly do today or tomorrow. Cole opting out doesn't have any impact on their pursuit of Soto.
Give me Gamel, younger, plays defense as well as Heyward and hits better as part of a platoon. Cant count on an older guy like Heyward for a full year.
I will take this a step further and add If and only if The Astros add at least 2 quality regular starters between 3b, LF, and CF and a platoon partner for him so he never starts vs a LHP Then I'm OK with Singleton as the strong side of a 1b platoon.
They aren’t going to pay 600-700 million. Even with Soto they have a lot of holes. Some team will outbid them. And Soto probably won’t defer his contract like Ohtani. They could Keep Soto and find another starter.
That has nothing to do with Cole opting out or not. Whether Cole opted out or not, he's playing for the Yankees the next 4 years at the same price he was yesterday. It only impacts $36MM in salary in 2029. If they could pursue Soto yesterday, they still can today.
Is it that certain that the Yankees will bring him back. He is already 34 and that would be guaranteeing him until he 39. He is a great player, but I'm not so sure he will maintain he effectiveness when the velocity starts to dip in the next few seasons.
Yes. As I said, it has no impact on the Yankees' payroll the next 4 years and thus has no impact on their ability to pursue Soto.
How does it not? The Yankees can choose to not add the 1 year to Cole's deal. Of they do that, he is a free agent right now and they have the $36M they were going to pay him available to pay Soto. So Cole opting out significantly impacted that.
This. And I don’t think the decision for the Yankees to add the extra year is a clear cut decision or they would have done it yesterday.
Fangraphs has updated their depth chart projections to remove free agents and they have Houston as the 3rd best team in the league (3rd in position player, 6th in pitching). Here are their ranks by position: C: 9th 1B: 25th 2B: 4th SS: 19th 3B: 27th RF: 2nd CF: 20th LF: 14th DH: 2nd SP: 12th RP: 6th Thoughts: Christian Walker would boost Houston into the top 5 at 1B. Bregman would boost Houston into 3rd at 3B. While seeing Houston at 20th in CF and 19th at SS seems disconcerting, their projected starter is as good as the top rated free agent at both those positions (Bader in CF and Adames at SS). Fangraphs has Arrighetti and Blanco rated pretty poorly; both of those guys should outperform their projections. I think Houston should go all in on Bregman and Walker then stand pat. Brandon Lowe, Yandy Diaz, Josh Naylor, Ryan Mountcastle, Willson Contreras, and Luis Arraez are potential backup plans to Walker. Jonathan India, Nolan Arenado, Brett Baty, and Yandy Diaz are potential backup plans to Bregman, although those pickings are slim and if they miss out on Bregman they may be better served redirecting their attention to upgrading their rotation. That Jose Abreu deal was so so bad for Houston. Had he panned out they’d be looking at replacing Bregman as their only real hole, and they’d have plenty of resources to do it. https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Team
If they non-tender Urquidy and trade Caratini and Pressly, they should have the money and prospects to add 2 “good” players and 1 “complementary” player. Here’s my list of presumably available players in each category: “Good” players: Alex Bregman, Christian Walker, Pete Alonso, Anthony Santander, Willy Adames, Luis Robert Jr., Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe, Willson Contreras, Luis Arraez, Brent Rooker, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Blake Snell, Yusei Kikuchi, Jack Flaherty, Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta “Complementary” players: Justin Turner, Ryan O’Hearn, Jurickson Profar, Jesse Winker, Teoscar Hernandez, Josh Bell, Tyler O’Neill, Paul Goldschmidt, Michael Conforto, Carlos Santana, Mark Canha, Alex Verdugo, JD Martinez, Jason Heyward, Luis Urias, Jorge Polanco, Tommy Pham, Yoan Moncada, Gio Urshela, Nolan Arenado, Jonathan India, Andrew Vaughn, Jeimer Candelario, Connor Joe, Jake Burger, Brett Baty, Cedric Mullins, Josh Naylor, Andrew Benintendi, Jesus Sanchez, Josh Lowe, Wilyer Abreu, George Springer, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Matthew Boyd, Frankie Montas, Alex Cobb, Lance Lynn, Charlie Morton, Shane Bieber, Andrew Heaney, Walker Buehler, Jakob Junis
