There isn’t much of a question about just how much firepower Juan Soto brings to The Bronx.
But there are plenty of reasons to wonder about if he’s worth the risk the Yankees are taking with their future.
The Yankees acquired the 25-year-old superstar outfielder from the Padres on Wednesday night, along with Trent Grisham, in exchange for a haul of pitchers Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez and catcher Kyle Higashioka.
They initially balked at including King, The Post’s Joel Sherman reported earlier in the day, but eventually gave in and included him in order to get the deal done.
On paper, Soto and Aaron Judge now form arguably the best 1-2 punch in baseball as the Yankees look to quickly bounce back from their worst season in more than 30 years.
But there are plenty of risks, both in the short and long term.
The most obvious is Soto possibly leaving in free agency next year.
Soto, a three-time All-Star with a career .946 OPS, is well worth the $33 million he will earn in his final season of arbitration, but will his Yankees contributions, for however long, be worth the significant assets the team parted with?
Soto is represented by superagent Scott Boras, who is famous for preferring to take his clients to the open market. He’s been coy about whether Soto would sign an extension before hitting free agency, but history points to the opposite.
No matter how 2024 ends, the Yankees risk losing valuable prospects — Thorpe, the team’s No. 5 prospect, Vasquez (No. 13), and an emerging talent in King, whose potential is intriguing as he transforms into a starter — simply for a one-year rental.
If Soto were to leave after one year, would anything but a 28th World Series title be worth it?
There is also the risk of how it affects the other Yankees playing alongside him in the outfield.
Soto is a natural right fielder, the position Judge normally occupies. Manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday that the Yankees were open to playing Judge in center field to allow Soto and Alex Verdugo, whom the Yankees acquired on Tuesday, to play the corner spots.
But that puts a far greater toll on Judge’s 6-foot-7, 282-pound frame and likely increases his risk of injury.
Then there is the risk inside the Yankees’ clubhouse.
The Padres were one of MLB’s biggest disappointments in 2023 after beginning the season with the game’s third-highest payroll. Reports emerged about a toxic clubhouse being a primary reason the talented team flopped so badly, and it’s fair to wonder what Soto’s contribution to that culture was.
But even with those potential downsides, acquiring Soto was a move the Yankees needed to make.
Despite some of their youth breaking through last season — namely Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells — the Yankees remain firmly a win-now team.
Other than Soto, the six highest-paid players on the team are 31 years old or older, and they are owed a combined $167 million next season. Three of those players — Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and DJ Lemahieu — are 34 and older.
And the Yankees certainly didn’t ink Judge to his massive nine-year, $360 million contract last offseason to be part of any sort of rebuild. That’s not in the Yankees’ vocabulary, anyway.
What is also clear is the Yankees needed a new star to reinvigorate their roster, especially a lineup that ranked 25th in runs scored.
Considering generational superstar Shohei Ohtani prefers to stay away from New York, as The Post’s Jon Heyman reported, Soto was the biggest fish left to catch.
It’s an addition that undeniably transforms the Yankees, and certainly qualifies for the kind of dramatic change team brass promised at the end of last season.
But catching a big fish comes with the risk you may not hold onto it for long.
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The other guys
Josh Hart’s and Quentin Grimes’ recent grumblings were nearly identical.
They reveal a flaw in the Knicks’ offense — and roster, as The Post’s Stefan Bondy wrote.
Hart last week aired his frustrations about his struggles on offense, not pleased with how he’s being used on that end of the floor.
“I’m a rhythm player,” Hart said. “I’m not someone that’s just a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter that really just only does that. That’s not really what I do.
“I’m more someone who can get in the lane and find guys and stuff like that, and I’m capable of making shots. When you don’t have a rhythm like that or you don’t feel included, it’s just sometimes that’s tough not touching it and having to catch and shoot.”
Before airing his grievances, Hart was averaging just 7.1 points per game while shooting 42 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3-point range. (In the four games since, he’s gotten hot: 13 points per game on 66 percent shooting from the field and blistering 70 percent shooting from behind the arc.)
Grimes’ gripes Tuesday night after the Knicks were shellacked by the Bucks pointed to a similar dissatisfaction with his role on offense.
“It’s just hard when you go the whole quarter without touching the ball, the whole second quarter without touching the ball, and then you get one shot and you got to make it,” Grimes said. “So it’s tough going out there and just standing in the corner the whole game. Then you got to make the shot when you shoot the ball one or two times per game.”
The 23-year-old guard is averaging a paltry 5.8 points per game on 36 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from behind the arc, far cries from his marks last season.
Both are seemingly unhappy just standing still on offense and waiting for kick-out 3-pointers, not finding opportunities to cut off-ball to find easy shots.
But that’s become a recurring characteristic when Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and/or RJ Barrett are on the floor.
Brunson, Randle and Barrett, the team’s three leading scorers, dominate the ball and often look to create points for themselves.
All three are in the top 31 players in the NBA in usage rate, the only team to have three players that high. Brunson’s team-leading 5.6 assists per game rank 25th in the NBA, roughly 19th among point guards.
Randle goes isolation 11.2 percent of the time.
Unsurprisingly, the Knicks’ 23.3 team assists per game are third-worst in the league.
It leaves little for other players, like Hart and Grimes, on the floor to do other than serve as an outlet when the other three are double-teamed or run into trouble.
It results in a predictable offense that falters against playoff-type opponents, and makes it nearly impossible for role players to get involved.
College basketball check-in
As men’s college basketball transitions to conference play, it’s a fitting time to look at some early-season takeaways:
The Big 12 looks like the big dog
The heavily hyped Big 12 indeed has emerged as the best conference in the early going.
The conference has a nation-best six teams (Kansas, Houston, Baylor, Texas, BYU and Oklahoma) ranked in the AP top 25. No. 2 Kansas (8-1), No. 3 Houston (9-0) and No. 6 Baylor (9-0) are in the top six and look like powerhouses.
As they now begin to beat up on each other inside the conference, will some of those rankings drop? Perhaps, but no other conference has the depth the Big 12 currently possesses.
The Jayhawks in particular look like the team to beat so far.
Hunter Dickinson, who transferred from Michigan, has fit in seamlessly, averaging 20.1 points and 12.2 rebounds per game. He’s formed a dynamic 1-2 punch with Kevin McCullar Jr., who is averaging 19.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.
After receiving a lifetime contract, head coach Bill Self has led Kansas to wins over Kentucky, Tennessee and UConn. The team’s sole loss came to No. 8 Marquette in Hawaii.
UConn building repeat momentum
Dan Hurley once again has UConn rolling.
Despite losing arguably their two best players from last season’s title run in Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins, the No. 5 Huskies (8-1) already have racked up impressive wins over Texas and North Carolina — a convincing result Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden — and went toe-to-toe with Kansas on the road.
All that’s with Donovan Clingan, projected to be a lottery pick, not yet hitting his stride. UConn has the third-best KenPom offensive rating and overall rating in the country.
The Big East’s Huskies look like strong candidates to repeat.
Same old Purdue
This is the Purdue college basketball fans have grown accustomed to.
With Zach Edey still in the fold and dominating, averaging 23.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game, Purdue (8-1) is back among the sport’s elite and ranked No. 4 in the country with standout wins over Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette.
But once again, the Boilermakers have proved they’re capable of losing to anyone.
Last week, ranked No. 1 at the time, they lost to lowly Northwestern. Last year, they entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed, but lost to No. 16 seeded Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round, just the second time a No. 1 seed had ever fallen to a No. 16 seed. A year prior, as the No. 3 seed, Purdue lost in the Sweet 16 to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s.
Put your faith in Purdue at your own risk.
What we’re reading 👀
🏈 Zach Wilson is back as the Jets’ starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Texans. If that’s not the record for getting un-benched, we want to know what is.
🏈 Daniel Jones, in his first interview since undergoing surgery on a torn ACL, said he still views himself as the Giants’ franchise QB.
⚾ Mets owner Steve Cohen and GM David Stearns flew to Japan last week to woo prized free-agent right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That, and $300 million, might be awfully convincing.
🏀 The Nets beat the Hawks, 114-113, on a game-winning midrange jumper by Mikal Bridges (32 points) and a last-second stop on Trae Young. The game set a known record with 43 lead changes.
🏀 St. John’s (6-2) didn’t mess around in a 85-50 win over Sacred Heart at a sold-out Carnesecca Arena. Joel Soriano led the way with game highs of 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
🏀 Rutgers got a commitment from guard Dylan Harper, the No. 2 recruit in the country, to complete a top-three 2024 recruiting class and, as The Post’s Mike Vaccaro writes, validate what Steve Pikiell is building in Piscataway.
🏇 The Belmont Stakes will be held at Saratoga in 2024 while Belmont Park gets renovated, which means a shift from a legendary 1½ mile race to 1¼ miles.
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