Newest Mets Free Agent Rips Yankee Fans, Unleashing Brutal 10-Word Message

Back on December 13, just five days after agreeing to sign the richest contract in baseball — and professional sports — history, joining the New York Mets on a 15-year, $765 million deal, Juan Soto decided the time was right to take a shot at the fans of his former team, the New York Yankees.

Belittling Yankee fans’ commitment to their team — at least, Yankee fans took it that way — at his introductory Citi Field press conference, Soto confidently declared that New York City has “been a Mets town for a long time.”

New Mets Continue to Take Shots Across Town

Indicative of how Yankee fans felt about Soto, one such fan with a national media platform, former ESPN and NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen used that platform to lash back at Soto.

“Dude, get out of here. Get out of here with that noise,” Eisen inveighed on his Rich Eisen Show broadcast. “It is just like here in Los Angeles. Clipper town? Get out of here. It’s a Mets town? Yeah, in your head.”

Now the same thing has happened all over again, this time with the Mets’ newest free agent acquisition, one not nearly as high-profile or expensive as Soto. And while Soto spent all of 2024 playing for the Yankees, left-handed reliever A.J. Minter, formerly of the Atlanta Braves, had reportedly been eyed by the Yankees as an addition to their bullpen. The Yankees bullpen remains without a single lefty pitcher, even as their first spring training game is just over three weeks away.

The Mets signed Minter on January 23 to a two-year, $22 million deal. The 31-year-old southpaw compiled a 3.28 ERA in 284 appearances over eights seasons with the Atlanta Braves. He also took home a World Series ring with Atlanta in 2021, allowing four runs in 12 postseason innings that year. In his playoff career with Atlanta, he struck out 36 in 25 innings.

When he was introduced to Mets fans at a press conference on January 25, Minter went Soto one better, taking a direct shot at the fan base in Bronx, by way of pumping up fans of his new team, the Mets.

Mets Fans ‘Get Baseball,’ Minter Says

“They get baseball, not like the other side of town,” Minter said, in his 10-word message. Minter then continued, praising Citi Field crowds as “the true die-hard fans, and they’re gonna be with you until the end. I got to face against y’all my whole career, and you always brought it every time, so we can’t wait to pitch for y’all now.”

And just as with Soto, Minter’s remarks raised the ire of Yankee fans, most prominently Eisen.

“The Mets are acquiring an absolute ton, they are cornering the market on people who have no idea what they’re talking about, the sports scene in New York City and talking declaratively with absolutely no sense,” Eisen said on his show Wednesday. “A.J., you know what? We got our own lefty from the Braves who might have a say or two about what’s the real thing in New York or not this year. There’s a lot of checks being written across the Triborough.”

Eisen was referring to lefty starter Max Fried, Minter’s former Braves teammate who signed an eight-year, $218 million free agent contract with the Yankees in December.