The New York Yankees lost Juan Soto to the New York Mets this winter. The move was not well received, and one former coach is discrediting Soto’s 2024 season with the Yankees.
Yankees former hitting coach Sean Casey made some harsh comments about Soto’s Yankees tenure on his podcast, “The Mayor’s Office.” Casey spent time as the Yankees’ hitting coach in 2023. He has never coached Soto, but that did not stop him from discrediting some of his greatness.
“Don’t forget, Juan Soto’s numbers were no doubt inflated this year with Aaron Judge hitting behind him,” said Casey. “You take Paul Goldschmidt and you stick him in that lineup with some heavy hitters. I guarantee his production goes way up.”
Casey noted that the real reason Soto had the best year of his career was the effect Aaron Judge had on the lineup. Casey went as far as to say anybody hitting around Judge would have a great year. However, fans would be pressed to ignore the Yankees World Series run during Soto’s one-year on the team. However, Casey felt that he was simply a compliment to Judge.
“But Juan Soto has also been on teams that didn’t win. When he went out to San Diego, they were out there, and he’s on that same team. They didn’t win with (Manny) Machado and (Fernando) Tatis,” said Casey. “I don’t know if they even made the playoffs that one year. They had to rally at the end to figure it out.”
Regardless of fans’ opinions on Soto, he gave the Yankees a magical season that ended in an American League championship. However, the move to the Mets will undoubtedly leave a sour taste in the mouths of fans for the rest of his career.
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