The New York Yankees are brushing off recent comments from former teammate Luis Severino, who quipped last week that the Bronx Bombers "only have two good hitters."
The Yankees open a two-game series Tuesday against Severino and his current team, the New York Mets. Severino did not face his former team last month when the crosstown rivals played a two-game series in Queens, prompting multiple Yankees to jab Severino over a group text chain for being "afraid" of them.
"They talked s--- about me ... 'Oh, you're afraid of us,'" Severino told reporters Friday. "I say, 'I'm not afraid of you. You guys right now only have two good hitters.'"
After their game Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees were asked about Severino, who is not slated to pitch in either of the two games this week at Yankee Stadium.
"It's just noise," catcher Austin Wells said, according to the New York Daily News. "You just try to block that out."
"It is what it is," added All-Star outfielder Juan Soto, who hit two home runs Monday in the Yankees' 9-1 victory. "They can think whatever they want."
Severino, 30, spent parts of the past nine seasons with the Yankees before signing as a free agent last winter with the Mets. The two-time All-Star has been solid for the Mets this season after five straight injury-plagued campaigns with the Yankees, going 7-3 with a 3.58 ERA while leading the team in innings pitched (115.2) and quality starts (9).
When elaborating Friday on the group chat, Severino indirectly referred to Soto and fellow All-Star Aaron Judge as the Yankees' only two "good hitters." Soto is batting .311 with 25 homers and 71 RBIs in his first season with the Yankees, while Judge is batting .310 and leads the majors with 35 homers and 89 RBIs.
"I can walk those two guys," Severino said. "It's always a friendly competition against players I've already played with. [The Mets-Yankees series] is going to be fun, but hopefully in the future, I can face them."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone quipped Friday that Severino's comments were "kind of whatever" and added that he hoped "we can answer him." Soto echoed those sentiments Monday and added that he thinks the Yankees are "a really good team right now."
"We dominated most of the first half, so I don't think this is only about one or two players," Soto said. "It takes every single guy in the lineup and our relievers in the bullpen and everything, so I think it's not only a two-player team. I think it's a really good team right now."
Severino emphasized Monday in an interview with the New York Post that his earlier comments were made in jest and that he "wasn't trying to hurt anybody."
"I know that the guys from the team know that I was joking," Severino told the Post. "A lot of fans went crazy about it. The guys that I really care about are the team, and they knew I was joking around. Sometimes somebody is going to be pissed but in the end I wasn't trying to hurt anybody."
Severino also told the Post that if the Mets are not in the World Series this season, he "would be rooting for the Yankees."
As for the latest installment of the Subway Series, the Yankees hope they will carry some momentum from their victory Monday, when Wells and slumping regulars DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Volpe homered.
"We need all those guys," Soto said. "At the end of the day, it's going to take more than two guys to go to the World Series and win it."