Confirmed deal : Yankees Trade For $200 Million All-Star Shortstop Urged to ‘Cement’ World Series

 

 

When the New York Mets made Juan Soto the highest paid athlete in sports history, they deprived the New York Yankees of an offensive force that will be difficult to replace. Soto’s 7.9 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) number was sixth in the Major Leagues. His .989 OPS (on base plus slugging percentage) was second. His 41 home run total was third.

 

The Yankees’ effort to fill in for the loss of Soto has so far been half-hearted. Instead the Yankees have focused primarily on upgrading their pitching staff. On the offensive side, their only move of any significance this offseason has been their trade with the Chicago Cubs to bring in outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger — who posted a 2.2 WAR and .751 OPS with 18 home runs last season for the Cubs. Not exactly Soto-level production.

 

In an effort to continue to compensate for the loss of Soto’s offense, as well as to simply bring in another All Star caliber player, a prominent Yankees podcast now urges the team to trade for a player who, in his last fully healthy season, led the Major Leagues in WAR.

 

 

That was his 7.2 number in 2021 — but Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa was “having one of the best seasons of his career… on a scorching midsummer heater” in 2024, as Twins Daily put it, when he was benched with a heel injury on July 13.

But Correa turned out to have an even worse malady, the painful foot condition known as plantar fasciitis.Correa returned on September 14 and played 11 more games, batting .325 the rest of the way, with 13 hits in 40 at-bats.

 

Counting on Correa to continue his trend back toward full health, Fireside Yankees co-hosts Ryan Garcia and Alex Wilson last week called on the Yankees to acquire Correa from the Twins.

“We want Carlos Correa. If the Twins are at least listening on conversations, that means they’re not off the table,” Garcia said on a December 26 podcast. “This guy’s a monster in the playoffs, he’s a monster in the regular season.”

 

You’ve punched your ticket to the World Series with a move like that,” added Wilson. “That’s an ‘American League, watch out. You are on notice,’ type of move. If they get Carlos Correa, the Yankees would have such a balanced lineup. They would end up walking away a better team.”