The New York Yankees have made the trade that we’ve expected for some time. Jon Heyman was the one to break the news today that the Yanks had agreed to trade first baseman Luke Voit to the San Diego Padres.
It started to leak out yesterday that the Padres were one of the teams interested in Voit. It was also reported this morning that the Yankees were starting to get more aggressive in their attempts to trade Voit.
Turns out to be the perfect storm as the former AL Home Run champion is now heading to San Diego. Earlier this morning, it was said that the Yankees were drastically lowering their price tag on Luke Voit.
It became very apparent that they were desperate in their attempt to move Voit. Turns out that their return was not very strong. Dan Federico was the first to report that the return for Voit was a Low-A pitcher.
Yankees’ Return
In return for the former AL Home Run champ, Joel Sherman first reported that the Yankees acquired right-handed pitcher Justin Lange. Lange was the 34th overall selection in the 2020 MLB draft and the Yankees are getting another guy with an electric arm.
Lange’s fastball grades out at a 65 and he pairs that with a nice slider while mixing in a changeup. In 2021, Lange was very underwhelming going 0-3 with a 6.95 in rookie ball. While that might make you scratch your head, it was his first experience with professional baseball.
There are a lot of scouts high on Lange’s potential and the Yankees really love his arm. However, let’s be honest, this deal really didn’t have anything to do with Lange. This deal was more about trading away Luke Voit.
Once the Yankees resigned Anthony Rizzo, it was just a matter of time that Voit would get traded. Personally, I thought Voit would be a part of a package for MLB-ready pitching, but the Yanks went in a different direction.
It’ll be interesting to watch Voit play in SD and Lange will be someone to watch. It’ll take a few years before we know who really won this trade.