Ever since generational slugger Juan Soto made his departure from the New York Yankees final on December 8, accepting a whopping, 15-year, $765 million contract with the Bronx Bombers’ National League crosstown rivals, the New York Mets, the 26-year-old has been taking subtle and not-so subtle shots at his former team, as well as at Yankee fans.

Soto spent one season at Yankee Stadium after two years in San Diego. The Padres dealt Soto and his $31 million salary to New York for a package of five players. With the Yankees, Soto helped the team reach its first World Series in 15 years. Soto posted a sixth-best-in-baseball Wins Above Replacement number of 7.9 while ripping 41 home runs with a .989 OPS, which was third-best in MLB.

His 2024 numbers were no anomaly. Soto’s .953 career OPS ranks third among all active players and 23rd all-time. The native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is without a doubt already one of the greatest hitters ever to play the game.

Soto Made Controversial Claim About New York Baseball

He was rewarded for his performance by the unprecedented, perk-laden contract lavished on him by Mets owner Steve Cohen. But that apparently was not enough for Soto, who felt compelled to state in his introductory press conference that New York City has “been a Mets town for a long time.”

That claim, to put it mildly, did not go over well with the Yankee fan community. One prominent Yankee fan, former ESPN anchor Rich Eisen immediately called Soto out on his Emmy-nominated Rich Eisen Show.

“What is he talking about? Juan, I’ve been around New York City for 55 years,” Eisen said on his self-titled program. “He’s been around for the proverbial New York minute. Dude, get out of here. Get out of here with that noise.”

Now, a former Yankees All-Star, who also played the final three seasons of his career with the Mets, has thrown his pointed reply into Soto’s ring.

Dellin Betances, a three-time All-Star retired right-handed relief pitcher and, like Eisen, native New Yorker who was drafted by his hometown team in the eighth round of the 2006 MLB amateur draft, delivered his response on Friday when he appeared as a guest on the Foul Territory TV podcast, hosted by former Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

New York ‘Always’ a Yankees Town

“It’s always going to be a Yankees town,” Bentances, who grew up in the Bronx not far from Yankee Stadium, said. “That’s the way I feel. I don’t know what he was trying to say by that. I love Juan Soto, but… he’s in a situation obviously where… I think him going to the Mets, he gets to be the guy.”

Betances suggested that beyond the eye-popping contract, getting to be “the guy” was what drew Soto to the Mets.

“Him being on the Yankees, … it’s Judge’s team, regardless,” Betances said on the podcast. “Soto has a chance to be the guy on the Mets, and not taking anything away from (Francisco) Lindor, but Soto getting that large contract, Lindor has only been with the Mets for only four years, where Judge came up with the Yankees, he’s the Captain. That’s kind of the way I feel.”

With 73 days remaining until Opening Day, Soto has exactly that long before he will be required to back up his words with his bat.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin