Yankees needed seismic Juan Soto addition this year -- no matter the cost

Good for the Yankees.

They’ve finally done something about the gaping hole in their offense, sending a package of players to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Juan Soto, a transformational hitter who goes a long way to making the Yanks a lot more interesting. And a lot more dangerous, since they are adding him to a club that already has one of the best hitters and one of the best pitchers in baseball.

We know the reasons why Soto was coveted: He’s one of the finest hitters of this generation, a player who has been mentioned in the same sentence with Ted Williams -- whether that’s loony or not, just the idea that anyone dared do it is eye-popping. Soto is a powerful, on-base machine who bats left-handed, a trait the Yankees desperately need.

And he just turned 25 on Oct. 25. (Think about the giddy Yankees making a big fuss of him celebrating his birthday if they are playing in the postseason, especially if he does something huge). Soto’s already helped a team win a ring, too -- Aaron Judge can’t say that.

Most likely, trading for Soto will not be a deal in which the Yanks acquire a player who’s already had his best seasons. He’s no already-aging great. Soto hit a career-best 35 home runs last season. Some say power develops more as a player gets older. What if Soto keeps adding thump as he swings half the time in Yankee Stadium, a joint with an inviting right-field porch?

The Yankee offense was embarrassingly bad last season. Sure, injuries were a part of that. But awaited bounce-backs never came and the Yanks never added the bat they so obviously needed. The Yankees always bristle when they are criticized for letting this player or that player go elsewhere, but they deserved the heat they’ve gotten for not adding a productive outfielder last season.

They paid for it on the field and now they’re trying to do something about it, getting Soto and Alex Verdugo in trades. You can wonder about the Verdugo move – would the Red Sox really deal someone to the hated Yankees whom they believed would be super-impactful? Although if you were clamoring for the Yanks to add contact lefties, Verdugo is a contact lefty.

Soto, obviously, is much, much more. He adds swagger to a toothless team. He changes the conversation around the team, maybe not enough to totally squelch the online cacophony of criticism directed at GM Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner. Maybe only a parade will do that. But it might be enough to show that they are committed to fixing a lineup that really only had one constant threat, Judge.

Last season, the Yankees were 25th in runs per game, 24th in OPS and 29th in batting average. In other words, use a sarcasm font when you trot out the old nickname, “Bronx Bombers.”

Maybe that changes now. Soto and Verdugo were both well below the MLB average (22.7 percent) in strikeout rate last season, which presumably will help the Yanks make more contact as a team.

Adding Soto also proves this -- the Yankees are no longer willing to risk squandering the primes of Judge and Gerrit Cole.

Cole is 33. Judge is 32 in April. Anthony Rizzo is 34. DJ LeMahieu is 35. Giancarlo Stanton is 34. Carlos Rodon will be 31. Not exactly a core dominated by youth. With some of those players, there’s annual injury concern. Soto, at 25, is barely older than some of the players he was traded for. Michael King, the biggest piece sent west, is 28.

With any trade, there’s inherent risk, of course. Soto is a one-year rental likely to hit free agency after the season -- Scott Boras has had great success taking his clients to the free market and it’s certainly Soto’s right to explore.

Soto already turned down a $440 million extension when he was with the Washington Nationals, so things will get pricey, even if Soto falls in love with New York and likes the idea of being closer to his native Dominican Republic than he was in San Diego. But maybe he signs elsewhere.

Still, how were the Yankees going to be interesting or great this year without a seismic addition?

There’s some hurt, talent-wise, for the Yanks. King is already an excellent major league pitcher, as evidenced by a 2.29 ERA in 2022 and a 2.75 ERA last year. In eight starts to finish the season last year, once he transitioned to the rotation, King had a 1.88 ERA. It’s no wonder the Yankees were reluctant to part with him.

But maybe they feel like they’re going to be the team that signs Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto? That would cushion the blow of losing King, certainly.

The prospect cost was pretty big, too -- all together now, let’s chant “prospects are suspects until they prove they’re something more.” It’s a baseball truism after all and it always applies, even in this era of over-the-top prospect hugging.

Still, the Yanks parted with some promising players, including Drew Thorpe.

Thorpe, 23, is a right-handed pitcher who was taken in the second round in 2022 out of Cal Poly. He was 14-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 23 starts over High-A and Double-A, utilizing a fading changeup that makes evaluators rave. In 139.1 innings, Thorpe gave up just 99 hits while striking out 182 and walking 38. Good stuff.

I was talking to a scout about Thorpe the other day and the scout said: “He might have the best changeup in baseball. He could tell you it’s coming, and you couldn’t hit it.”

Now the Padres can dream on Thorpe and the other players they got. The Yankees can dream on Soto’s incredible talent, already proven at the MLB level.

Regardless of what happens in a year, Cashman and Steinbrenner have addressed an enormous need for 2024, even if the fill ends up temporary. Good for them.