JUSTNOW: new york yankyee head coach decided to  comparing Judge-Soto to other legendary Yankee duos,When comparing Judge-Soto to other legendary Yankee duos,

Aaron Judge and Juan Soto have the potential to be legendary together.

Christmas has passed, and it’s time to assess what will most certainly be the Yankees’ most essential present: Juan Soto. The Yankees’ new toy has had a historically outstanding start to his career, as can his new teammate Aaron Judge. In the Bronx, two of baseball’s finest hitters will be in the same lineup. It’s unquestionably thrilling, and rather uncommon in the broad scheme of things. The Yankees, on the other hand, are no strangers to this occurrence.

Both Judge and Soto have a season with a wRC+ of 200 or higher on their resume (albeit Soto’s came in the truncated 2020 season, to be fair). This mark has only been surpassed 12 times since incorporation, four times by Barry Bonds and twice during the similarly shorter 1994 season. There are numerous criteria at play, but the heights Judge and Soto have achieved and could potentially achieve together are historically impressive. So, given the Yankees’ rich history, why not compare those two projections to some prior standout pinstriped duos?

First, here are the Steamer projections for the Yankees’ current dynamic duo:

.270/.386/.563, 158 wRC+, 24 2B, 46 HR, 6.4 fWAR for Judge

Soto hit.284/.425/.557 with 170 wRC+, 26 2B, 38 HR, and 6.6 fWAR.

Let’s do some comparison (and wishful thinking) now.

Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth

There’s hardly much to say about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig that hasn’t previously been said. They are most possibly the most iconic pair in baseball history, not only for the Yankees. These two are simply two of the best hitters and players in baseball history, and they played together for a dozen seasons. They established a high bar for future duos in 1927, during the Murderers’ Row season and likely Gehrig’s greatest. The Babe hit his historic 60 homers while slugging.772 and putting up a 208 wRC+, while Gehrig managed a strikingly comparable stat line with a career-high 205 wRC+. The pair combined for a previously inconceivable 25.3 fWAR. At the very least, any future duos will have something to work with.

Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio

Despite his tragic early retirement, Lou Gehrig was the Iron Horse for a reason, and he was terrific for long enough to be featured twice here. Gehrig was in another ludicrous two-part performance ten years after Murderers’ Row, this time alongside 22-year-old Joe DiMaggio. This was Gehrig’s final truly outstanding season, in which he hit 37 home runs and had an OPS well above 1.100. This year also saw the arrival of the new wave, as sophomore DiMaggio put up video game numbers with 46 home runs and 167 RBI. He certainly seemed like a good contender for the franchise.

Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris

The M&M guys, another classic Yankees combination, played seven seasons together, but one stands out. That was, of course, the 1961 season, when they both broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record of 60: Maris had 61, while Mantle had 54. They had 17.4 fWAR combined and finished first and second in MVP voting. This is a very significant pairing, as Judge shattered Maris’ Yankee and American League home run records in 2022 with 62 bombs. He’s done his best Maris impersonation, but we’ll see if he and Soto can match M&M.

Don Mattingly and Rickey Henderson

Mark Teixeira and Álex Rodríguez

Big Tex and A-Rod are the final and most recent duo. Teixeira arrived in the Bronx just in time for Rodrguez’s twilight as a significant producer for the 2009 championship season. Tex struggled out of the gate, but got on the jets once A-Rod started his season a little later due to injuries. The duo combined for 69 home runs and 9.3 fWAR for the World Series champions while occupying the third and fourth slots in the lineup. Soto and Judge are poised to make a run at these figures, if not better.

Of course, all of this is theoretical. We know Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are both elite players, and we get to watch them both.