Juan Soto Angrily Responds to Luis Severino’s Comments Shading Yankees
New York Mets right-handed pitcher Luis Severino made headlines last week when he had some interesting comments about his former team, the New York Yankees.
Severino was discussing his former Yankees teammates joking about him avoiding them after it was revealed he wouldn’t pitch against them in the upcoming Subway Series, and decided to take a shot at their lineup.
“They talked s*** about me when I (didn’t face) the Yankees (last month),” Severino said. “‘Oh, you’re afraid of us.’ I said, I’m not afraid. Right now you only have two good hitters.”
Severino’s comments made quick headlines, but his shot at the Yankees wasn’t exactly false. Outside of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ lineup has been below average — especially since Aaron Volpe’s early season fall off.
On Monday, after the Yankees’ 9-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, Soto was asked about Severino’s comments.
“It is what it is,” Soto said with a smile. “They can think whatever they want. At the end of the day, we trust and believe in every single guy in here and I think we have everything that we need to show them that we can do it. I mean, we did it in the first half. We dominated most of the first half. When a team does that, I don’t think it’s only about one or two players. It takes every single guy in the lineup and our relievers and bullpen and everything.”
Soto and Judge are carrying the Yankees’ offense right now. Judge leads all of Major League Baseball with a 207 wRC+, while Soto is in second place with a wRC+ of 190. Moreover, Judge leads MLB with an fWAR of 6.6. Soto is tied with Gunnar Henderson for second with an fWAR of 6.3.
A case can be made that Soto and Judge are the two most valuable players in MLB this season, and yet, the Yankees are 60-42, 1.5 games back of the first place Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.
Yankees pitching has dramatically declined since the middle of June, while the rest of the lineup has struggled to keep up with the stars at the top.
Still, like Soto said, it’s hard to win baseball games with just two players, and only one team has more wins than the Yankees this season. So, if Soto and Judge can get even a little more help, the Yankees should go back to their dominating ways.
The Mets and Yankees have a quick two-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Bronx.
