All In With John Jastremski

The Path For A Happy Yankee 2025 Without Soto…

It’s been a little over a week since Juan Soto decided to take his talents to Flushing.

Yankee fans such as myself have gone through many stages of grief over the past 9 days.

Anger, sadness, frustration, bewilderment and a whole lot of smack talk from Mets fans in your respective life.

So it may be true that Yankees fans may never get over the idea that Juan Soto left the team for the Mets, but I have noticed a different energy within the Yankee fan over the past few days.

The Yankee fans have taken their anger and have turned into a sense of determination.

The sense around the franchise and the fan base is a sense of how can the Yankees find a way to get better despite losing one of the best players in the sport.

Look, I’ve said it multiple times on the variety of platforms that I have that it’s borderline impossible to replace what Juan Soto brings to the table.

The flair, the plate discipline, the clutch gene. You can’t replace that in this free agent class or trade market.

The early path the Yankees have taken towards improvement is run prevention.

Considering there was no hitter on the market who can do what Juan Soto can do, I totally understand the Yankees beefing up their pitching staff with elite level talent.

The Yankees signed Max Fried from the Atlanta Braves to a massive 8 year contract.

If Fried stays healthy, a big IF with any starting pitcher, he is the perfect # 2 starter to slot behind Gerrit Cole.

Fried has the lowest ERA amongst big league starters since 2020 and does not give up hard contact.

A lefty big time starter at Yankee Stadium always plays.

The Yankees didn’t stop with Fried.

On Friday, the Yankees dealt for Brewers All Star Closer Devin Williams to help with much needed swing and miss stuff in the back end of the bullpen.

Yes, Williams’ failure against Pete
Alonso and the Mets will be remembered in town forever, but don’t let that distract you from the nasty stuff he brings to the Yankee bullpen.

The Yankees bullpen at the end of games should be on lock down with Williams complimenting Luke Weaver.

So, the Yankees pitching staff is drastically better than what it was at the end of 2024.

That’s great, but what about the offense? What about replacing Juan Soto.

The Yankees will need to get creative offensively.

They need to add baseball players who are well rounded.

Cody Bellinger of the Chicago Cubs fits that profile. Christian Walker of the Arizona Diamondbacks does too. Would I rather have Cody Bellinger and Christian Walker over Juan Soto? Of course not.

Do I think Bellinger, Walker plus the two big pitching additions entrench the Yankees as once again the team to beat in the American League?

That would be an overwhelming yes.

The best thing the Yankees have going for them is the league they play in.

Nothing is a given, but nobody has improved in the American League that would have the reigning League champions shaking in their boots.

There is much work to do for Brian Cashman and the Yankees, but life after Soto has begun.