Fantasy baseball: Does trade to Yankees put Juan Soto in mix for No. 1 pick? - ESPN

Is Juan Soto, the headliner who changed teams during the Winter Meetings, back to being a candidate for the No. 1 overall pick in points-based fantasy baseball leagues?

Soto, acquired alongside fellow outfielder Trent Grisham by the New York Yankees from the San Diego Padres in exchange for starting pitchers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka, will surely generate that level of buzz now that he'll be wearing pinstripes.

That's rightfully so, considering his 90th-plus-percentile raw power metrics, penchant for walks and Yankee Stadium's cozy confines potentially boosting his home runs, RBIs and runs scored.

Yes, Soto's first-overall-pick ceiling returns — if it ever really left — exemplified by his record five seasons of a .400-plus (qualified) on-base percentage and tied-for-seventh 160 homers before his 25th birthday, mere 17.1% career strikeout rate, and new surroundings in one of the game's friendliest environments for left-handed hitters.

His defense might be a liability — Gerrit Cole et al's fantasy managers might grumble at his occasionally poor defensive play — but everything else about him aligns for fantasy greatness, meaning top-five points and near-first-round rotisserie value. Note that those, as any draft valuation should, estimates his median-outcome worth.

Grisham, projected to earn roughly $5 million as an arbitration-eligible and therefore included in a cost-cutting move, becomes a defensive backup and insurance policy — Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, as you know, have reputations for missing time due to injuries — who falls off the mixed-league fantasy radar. Grisham was a .191/.300/.347 hitter with a 28.2% strikeout rate the past two seasons, so