New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge & Former Slugger Juan Soto

The addition of Juan Soto last offseason was a dream come true for Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers acquired him through a trade with the San Diego Padres, sending Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Kyle Kigashioka and Randy Vasquez.

While it was quite the haul, Soto is quite the player. The combination of his age and his superstar status makes him one of the best players in all of baseball.

Judge could not have been happier to welcome Soto to New York. During an interview with FOX 5 New York, the captain could not contain his excitement about his new teammate.

“He’s a generational talent. His stats speak for themselves and I think everybody in the Yankees’ universe is pretty excited to have him onboard,” said Judge.

In his 2023 season in San Diego, Juan Soto started all 162 regular-season games. During that span, he hit .275/.410/.519 with a career-high 41 home runs at the time.

The Yanks wanted to take some pressure off Judge to perform at the plate. They could not go into the new season depending on Judge to stay healthy and perform all year long.

Aaron Judge and New York Yankees must move forward without Juan Soto
New York Yankees – Aaron Judge (Photo via IMAGN)

Aaron Judge and the Yankees would go on to have a successful season with Juan Soto. They won the always-competitive AL East and made their way back to the postseason after missing it in 2023.

However, following the end of the 2024 season, Soto became a free agent. He recently signed a massive 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. Soto now holds the largest contract in MLB history, just one year after Shohei Ohtani broke the record.

It is unfortunate that the Yanks could not retain Soto, but they must move forward. They still have some exciting pieces and they also have some money to spend this winter.

They have already signed some players to make them better for the upcoming season, including Paul Goldschmidt and Max Fried. However, they could still use another star to pair with Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

Third base seems to be an area of concern for the club heading into 2025. While they have Jazz Chisholm Jr., signing somebody like Alex Bregman would help solidify the hole and their lineup going into the next season.