Yankees fans didn’t want to move Luis Gil in a potential Kyle Tucker deal

   

No Juan Soto, no Kyle Tucker and a lot of pressure for the Yankees.

 

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Is it just me, or has this been a particularly action-packed offseason? It certainly feels like it, with star players moving teams left and right. As much as almost any team, the Yankees have been right in the thick of things, leading us to ask some pertinent questions.

There are many ways in which one might interpret this result, with basically two-thirds of the fan base being against the inclusion of Luis Gil in a potential deal for Kyle Tucker. Maybe the first aspect to tackle is the fear of yet again losing an outstanding young starter for a rental piece. All indications are that Kyle Tucker is dead set on reaching free agency at this point, and it’s hard to imagine the Astros being willing and ultimately moving him if that was not the case.

The opposing side of the debate is that Tucker was worth the risk, as this team is going for the title on the back of a veteran core with the likes of Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole. If nothing else, the Yankees would get another good run at retaining a free-agent superstar. Could they really miss out again?

It’s not as simple as stating that the unwillingness to include Gil cost the Yankees this deal, but at the same time, one can wonder if they would have gotten him had they been willing to do so.

The initial reaction around the Juan Soto situation is that he got such a good deal from the Mets that it’s difficult to moan and groan too much about the whole thing. Instead, you’re left to run through a mixture of ultimately not-so-great, but not necessarily crushing feelings about the whole thing depending on who you ask.

Resignation isn’t something that’s born out of the blue, it’s often a slow-developing thing, and this is a perfect example of it. The Mets didn’t come out of nowhere to ultimately sign him, this was just a longstanding possibility ultimately coming to fruition.

Shohei Ohtani’s contract was eye-popping, but when you consider that it was basically all deferred money, Juan Soto’s $765 million deal stands out on an island of its own, and that’s surprising.

Now onto results from national polls not just Yankees fans:

Lose Juan Soto as a win-now team, and you get the majority of votes as the team needing to make a splash. Kyle Tucker fell on the Yankees lap as exactly that possibility, but the front office ultimately balked at the lofty price tag.

One can never truly replace Soto, but for what was otherwise available to this team, strong moves were certainly made, acquiring the likes of Max Fried, Cody Bellinger, and Devin Williams (and as of yesterday, Paul Goldschmidt). There is still work to be done, but they’ve certainly done more than Baltimore, who may very well lose Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander and has yet to add a high-profile player.

2009 was a long time ago for the biggest brand in the sport, and it has routinely competed at a high level since then, apart from a few off years. And across town, a little like it was with the Dodgers after getting Ohtani, the Mets now deal with the pressure of acquiring a franchise-altering player.