With Juan Soto gone, Yankees turned focus to getting better defensively

DALLAS – Brian Cashman arrived here early Sunday night for the winter meetings a bit later than expected, his 3 p.m. flight out of LaGuardia delayed about one and a half hours.

It wasn’t long after he checked into his room at the Hilton Anatole, site of the 2024 meetings, that he received a phone call that changed the Yankees offseason.

It was Juan Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, telling Cashman the 26-year-old outfielder, who helped lead the Yankees to their first World Series appearance since 2009, had chosen the Mets and their 15-year, $765 million offer, which included a $75 million signing bonus.

The Yankees didn’t exactly lowball Soto, with owner Hal Steinbrenner offering 16 years and $760 million. An offer, incidentally, pretty much no one in the organization was comfortable with, something longtime general manager Brian Cashman hinted at in discussing Soto’s departure.

“It,” Cashman said, “certainly went well beyond [where] I would have expected.”

The start of the organization’s pivot came quickly, with the Yankees on Tuesday agreeing to an eight-year, $218 million contract with lefthander Max Fried, a two-time All-Star who is 73-36 with a 3.07 ERA in eight big-league seasons, all of those with Atlanta.

“It’s about run prevention and run creation,” Cashman said.

Fried should help in two ways with the former. In addition to being a talented pitcher, he fields the position well, evidenced by his three Gold Gloves.

“Obviously, the No. 1 thing, when you get on the bump, is how good a pitcher you are,” Aaron Boone said. “But those other things — controlling the running game, fielding your position — are all things that are so valuable.”

Fried, of course, was signed first and foremost because of his pitching prowess. But the Yankees, who by any objective measure for a while now have not consistently been a good defensive team, appear this offseason to have had an awakening when it comes to the importance of that side of the ball.

The Yankees for years have given proper lip service to defense, but it is not something that has been stressed throughout the organization, which vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring gave voice to earlier in the week.

“The one thing, talking with Boonie over the years, starting in spring training, playing better fundamentally sound baseball to me is where it all starts,” Naehring said on the YES Network. “We have great talent. We have an ace [Gerrit Cole] on a staff, we have an MVP-type guy (Aaron Judge), but everybody, for me, and that starts in the minor leagues through the major league club, continue to play fundamentally sound baseball…physical errors are going to happen, but we have to make sure we continue to work on the fundamentals.”

Those are the kinds of comments that previously might have gotten Naehring, who spent eight years in the big leagues before embarking on a post-playing career in which he became one of the game’s most respected talent evaluators, called into the proverbial principal’s office for speaking out of school – obvious as those remarks might have been to anyone with a working set of eyes.

Because what generally over the last decade has been stressed by the franchise’s at-times autocratic wing of the analytics department, and this permeates from the major leagues through the lowest levels of the minors – that, and this goes back at least a half-decade, according to a vast array of rival scouts assigned to the Yankees’ minor league system – are things like exit velocity for hitters and spin rate for pitchers.

Defense, not so much.

But early indications are part of the pivot from Soto, never known for his fielding, is a renewed emphasis on defense, among the reasons Christian Walker, a three-time Gold Glover at first, is one of the Yankees' top targets to play there next season, as well as Cody Bellinger, a desired lefty bat, yes, but also considered a strong defender at both first base and in center. Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker, a Gold Glove winner in addition to having one of the best lefty bats in the sport, is a serious trade target and the club, to use one of Boone’s words from last spring, look “hellbent” this winter on finding a true third baseman so Jazz Chisholm Jr. can shift to his more natural position at second.

Replacing what Soto brought on offense can’t be casually dismissed – the deadly one-two combination comprising he and Aaron Judge is simply irreplaceable.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be overcome and a good start in doing so is what seems – “seems” still the operative word at this stage – is the organization getting defensive about its defense.

Only this time, in a good way.