The New York Yankees and Mets have at all times been intertwined since they play in the identical metropolis, however particularly now, on condition that the latter membership poached Juan Soto off the previous in free company. Whereas the Yankees have traditionally outshone the Mets, that would change with the four-time All-Star taking part in in Queens.
It is nonetheless early, however the outcomes have been combined up to now. Though the Mets (19-9) owned baseball’s greatest file forward of Monday’s bout with the Washington Nationals, it is no due to Soto, who’s slashing simply .248/.374/.396 with three homers and 12 RBI. That is not an distinctive stat line for somebody on a 15-year, $765 million deal, which is why staff proprietor Steve Cohen addressed it on Monday, by way of SNY’s Danny Abriano.
“I am not frightened about Juan,” he mentioned. “He is singularly targeted on baseball. He is a pure hitter. Let’s have this dialogue on the finish of the 12 months.”
Cohen has some extent, as 28 video games out of 162 is a small pattern measurement. The remainder of the league might be in bother if and when Soto returns to his profession common slash line of .284./.419/.528, because the Mets’ red-hot pitching workers (league-best 2.52 ERA coming into Monday) along with fellow stars Pete Alonso (.333/.451/.646, six homers, 12 RBI) and Francisco Lindor (.312/.366/.486, 5 homers, 14 RBI) are pulling their weight.
In the meantime, the Yankees (17-11) aren’t far behind regardless of dropping a foremost ingredient of final 12 months’s staff that made the World Sequence. Soto slashed .288/.419/.569 with 41 homers and 109 RBI within the common season earlier than slashing .327/.469/.633 with 4 homers and 9 RBI within the playoffs. It is troublesome to interchange that manufacturing with one participant, however the Bronx Bombers have gotten assist from a number of gamers to fill that void.
For one, Aaron Choose leads the league with a .406 batting common and 1.217 OPS, is tied for third with eight homers, and is second with 27 RBI. New signee Paul Goldschmidt can be on a tear, slashing .365/.417/.471 with one homer and 10 RBI, whereas Trent Grisham (.298/.385/.684, seven homers, 13 RBI) and Oswaldo Cabrera (.278/.350/.347, seven homers, 18 RBI) are having profession years. Ditto for Ben Rice (.259/.370/.541, six homers, 11 RBI), who’s taking part in his first full big-league season this 12 months.
2024 was a distinct story for the Yankees, as Choose and Soto had been the one constant hitters all through the common season earlier than the oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton stepped up within the playoffs. Aside from Jazz Chisholm Jr., whom they acquired on the commerce deadline, their next-best hitter was Gleyber Torres (.257/.330/.378, 15 homers, 63 RBI).
Goldschmidt, Grisham, Cabrera and Rice may all go on slumps sooner or later, however the Yankees are taking part in higher as a staff proper now than they ever did with Soto. The latter’s departure is instantly tied to their manufacturing, because the group pivoted to Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger as contingency choices, whereas Grisham is now getting extra taking part in time within the outfield.
There’s an opportunity that Soto’s free-agency choice works out for each groups ultimately, however that shall be outlined by playoff and championship outcomes over the approaching years.
