Fans of the New York Yankees are none too happy with Juan Soto right now, in the wake of the star outfielder's decision to bolt to the hated Mets on a massive 15-year, $765 million deal. On the one hand, this is understandable: The Bronx spent the 2024 season in a love affair with Soto, and having to watch him leave — to a crosstown rival, no less — was always going to hurt. On the other hand: These are Yankees fans we're talking about, and no one is better at squandering sympathy and taking things a bit too far.
We already saw that on Sunday night, when some fans even went to the extreme of burning Soto's jersey in the street. The mood was similar online, where Yankees Twitter has been busy engaging in some good, ol' fashioned copium. One fan in particular, though, made the mistake of assuming that one of Soto's former teammates shared his feelings about the 26-year-old's free agency decision, and learned the hard way that you should be careful whose mentions you hop into.
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Marcus Stroman has words for any Yankees fan hating on Juan Soto for signing with the Mets
To Yankees fans, Soto is Benedict Arnold, the player who looked at a pile of Hal Steinbrenner's money and decided he'd rather play for the Mets instead. But to Soto's former teammates in the Bronx, he's still a brother, and they all know that they'd make the same decision Soto did if another team offered them more money to play somewhere else.
So it should come as no surprise that Stroman had no harsh words for Soto after word of his decision got out. Instead, he took to Instagram to deliver a quick shoutout, congratulating the outfielder on his new contract and wishing he and his family all the best.
And when a random Yankee fan tried to egg him on into saying something bad about his former teammate, he wasn't having any of it. "If you're truly that bothered by another man choosing the best path for his family and himself," Stroman wrote, "then you need to look inward."
Yankees fans also have no love lost for Stroman, who was miserable down the stretch in his first season in the Bronx in 2024 — to the point that the team is actively looking to get out from under the remainder of his contract this offseason. So this is likely not a message that the Bronx wants to receive, nor the messenger from which they want to receive it. But Stroman is absolutely right here: Yankees fans have every right to be upset that Juan Soto no longer plays for their favorite team, but trying to turn him into a traitor andn a heel isn't going to convince anyone. If you want to get mad, get mad in the direction of Hal Steinbrenner, and tell him to field a better baseball team in 2025.