Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees 'Want' Silver Slugger Winner If They Lose Juan Soto, Per Insider

The New York Yankees have a clear next-best free agency option if they don't re-sign Juan Soto this winter.

Grant Young

Aug 14, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a New York Yankees hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Aug 14, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a New York Yankees hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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It's no secret that priority number one for the New York Yankees this offseason is re-signing Juan Soto, who is fresh off of winning an AL Silver Slugger Award.

However, signing Soto is also a top priority for at least seven other MLB teams. And while the Yankees are currently considered one of the favorites to win the Soto sweepstakes, it's still anyone's ballgame at this point.

This is why New York must have a backup plan in case Soto signs elsewhere. And in a November 12 article, ESPN's MLB insider Jeff Passan revealed who the Yankees seem to be targeting if they lose out on the 26-year-old superstar.

"The Yankees want [Teoscar Hernández] if Soto doesn't come back, though Hernández could have already signed by the time New York knows where it stands with Soto," Passan wrote.

"Chances are Hernández will be one of the first big names off the board."

Hernández also won a Silver Slugger Award on Tuesday (the third of his MLB career) after an exceptional 2024 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers that ended with a World Series championship — not that Yankees fans need reminding.

Hernández was a menace against the Yankees in the World Series, posting a .350 batting average and a .931 OPS across 20 at-bats for Los Angeles.

The 32-year-old is coming off a regular season where he set a career-high in home runs (with 33) and cemented himself as a staple in the middle of Los Angeles' lineup.

While losing out on Soto would be a massive loss for the Yankees this winter, adding an elite slugger like Hernández in the aftermath would at least soften the blow some.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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