NASHVILLE, Tenn. There are times during the Winter Meetings when you can smell a big deal coming, and the Yankees’ pursuit of Juan Soto has entered that category.
It’s not just in the reporting, but in the cryptic grins, the happy “no comments,” and the fact that, instead of hanging out and unwinding on Tuesday night, the Yankees’ front office worked in their suite well into the wee hours and went mostly (but not entirely) dark.
To be clear, according to sources, a trade has not yet reached the point where the baseball operations department has asked ownership for approval on the money changing hands. According to multiple agents, player agents have not been notified. This could still go wrong.
But, as of Wednesday morning, there was a lot of hope that Soto would be a Yankee soon.
What else can we say? This has that odor.
The Yankees were circling Gerrit Cole on the evening of December 11, 2019. The pre-deal tension and anticipation erupted, and an agreement was reached.
Brian Cashman, Hal Steinbrenner, and Aaron Boone stayed up late on December 7, 2022, to pressure Aaron Judge into finalizing his contract to return to the Yankees.
This Yankees front office is selectively aggressive, but when a big move appears to be feasible, they bear down and make it happen. This one, while not finished, has taken on that feeling.
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