The New York Yankees and Mets have always been intertwined since they play in the same city, but especially now, given that the latter club poached Juan Soto off the former in free agency. While the Yankees have historically outshone the Mets, that could change with the four-time All-Star playing in Queens.
It’s still early, but the results have been mixed so far. Although the Mets (19-9) owned baseball’s best record ahead of Monday’s bout with the Washington Nationals, it’s no thanks to Soto, who’s slashing just .248/.374/.396 with three homers and 12 RBI. That’s not an exceptional stat line for someone on a 15-year, $765 million deal, which is why team owner Steve Cohen addressed it on Monday, via SNY’s Danny Abriano.
“I’m not worried about Juan,” he said. “He’s singularly focused on baseball. He’s a pure hitter. Let’s have this discussion at the end of the year.”
Cohen has a point, as 28 games out of 162 is a small sample size. The rest of the league could be in trouble if and when Soto returns to his career average slash line of .284./.419/.528, as the Mets’ red-hot pitching staff (league-best 2.52 ERA entering Monday) in addition to fellow stars Pete Alonso (.333/.451/.646, six homers, 12 RBI) and Francisco Lindor (.312/.366/.486, five homers, 14 RBI) are pulling their weight.
Meanwhile, the Yankees (17-11) aren’t far behind despite losing a main ingredient of last year’s team that made the World Series. Soto slashed .288/.419/.569 with 41 homers and 109 RBI in the regular season before slashing .327/.469/.633 with four homers and nine RBI in the playoffs. It’s difficult to replace that production with one player, but the Bronx Bombers have gotten help from multiple players to fill that void.
For one, Aaron Judge leads the league with a .406 batting average and 1.217 OPS, is tied for third with eight homers, and is second with 27 RBI. New signee Paul Goldschmidt is also on a tear, slashing .365/.417/.471 with one homer and 10 RBI, while Trent Grisham (.298/.385/.684, seven homers, 13 RBI) and Oswaldo Cabrera (.278/.350/.347, seven homers, 18 RBI) are having career years. Ditto for Ben Rice (.259/.370/.541, six homers, 11 RBI), who’s playing his first full big-league season this year.
2024 was a different story for the Yankees, as Judge and Soto were the only consistent hitters throughout the regular season before the oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton stepped up in the playoffs. Other than Jazz Chisholm Jr., whom they acquired at the trade deadline, their next-best hitter was Gleyber Torres (.257/.330/.378, 15 homers, 63 RBI).
Goldschmidt, Grisham, Cabrera and Rice could all go on slumps at some point, but the Yankees are playing better as a team right now than they ever did with Soto. The latter’s departure is directly tied to their production, as the organization pivoted to Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger as contingency options, while Grisham is now getting more playing time in the outfield.
There’s a chance that Soto’s free-agency decision works out for both teams in the end, but that will be defined by playoff and championship results over the coming years.
