This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.
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"Adding Soto, one of the five or so best hitters in baseball. is a targeted strike at their weaknesses. The Yankees were 27th in OBP last year, with a .304 mark that was their lowest since 1990. Yankees history tip: You never want to be part of a sentence with '1990' in it. Soto leads MLB in OBP over the last three years by more than 20 points over the next guy. Four players have a .400 OBP since 2021, the Yankees will be hitting two of them back to back. Soto is on the short list for best left-handed batter in baseball; the Yankees’ left-handed batters had a 79 OPS+ against righties last year, 29th in MLB. Yankees left fielders were 27th in MLB with a 78 OPS+ last year. Soto takes over in left, nominally, though we’ll see how the additions of Trent Grisham and Alex Verdugo shape the lineup."
