Many fans criticized Juan Soto or the Yankees, depending on what side you stood on, after Soto revealed to reporters on Thursday that he hasn’t spoken to any of his former teammates since they lost the World Series in what became Soto’s final game in pinstripes.
But Gio didn’t put much stock in it at all, and didn’t come away very surprised that Soto hadn’t reached out to his former teammates, or vice versa, after going through the daily grind of a season together since spring training.
“I honestly didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Gio said. “He spent the entire year with them, they lost the World Series, and they go their separate ways.
“He spent a whole year there. That was part of the recruiting process, was for him to experience being a Yankee, and he did, all the way to game five of the World Series.”
Yankee fans wondered why no teammates reached out during Soto’s free agency to help lure him back to the Bronx, but Gio said the pitch from the players had already been made, and was made over the course of eight months, from spring training in Tampa to the World Series in the Bronx.
“They didn’t need to sell him anymore on what it was like, because he was there,” Gio said. “They didn’t need to talk to him.”