The New York Yankees may or may not re-sign Juan Soto to a huge contract. In any case, there are reasons to believe that they will be major players in the market regardless of the outcome of their Soto pursuit.

The Yankees could still make a big splash if they don’t land Juan Soto

If they lose out on the Soto sweepstakes, they will be motivated to spend on quality players to keep their roster competitive as they seek to win their first World Series since 2009. If they do retain him, they owe it to him to keep adding to increase their chances of taking the trophy.

With that logic in mind, the Yankees have been linked to star free agent Corbin Burnes in the last couple of days. They reportedly met with him in November and things went well. The Yankees know they will have competition, but MLB insider Jon Heyman has them as being “main players” for Burnes.

The Yankees could potentially get both Soto and Corbin Burnes

“Yanks, Jays, Red Sox, Giants, Orioles are among main players for Corbin Burnes. NYY could possibly, potentially do both Soto and Burnes (but of course they’d look to save $ elsewhere if they did),” Heyman wrote on his X account.

Basically, the same teams that are pursuing Soto are making their plays on Burnes, with the addition of the San Francisco Giants and his former club, the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees rotation is full at the moment, but there is always space for a guy who won a Cy Young award three years ago and posted a 2.92 ERA this past season with the O’s.

As Heyman suggests, there are ways to save some dollars if the Yankees manage to add both Soto and Burnes, and their might involve trading Nestor Cortes or maybe another asset. If the Yankees land both stars, it would be a major coup.