Luke Voit reposting workout clip with Rafael Devers is weirding us out
What a year it’s been for New York Yankees first baseman Luke Voit, huh?
A year ago, I interviewed Voit (humblebrag … no, wait, just regular brag) and asked him if he and the team had started any extension talks. I mean, how could it not have come up? He felt as much a part of the fabric of this team as anyone, mashing when healthy in 2019 before winning the AL home run crown in the shortened 2020 season.
When he told me the two sides hadn’t engaged, I tried to rationalize it mentally by convincing myself he was controllable through 2024, he was aging, and it made sense not to commit long-term to someone who’d technically never played a full season in pinstripes.
And now, following 2021, a Voit extension sounds like the silliest possible outcome.
The slugger started the year rehabbing from knee surgery that kept him out until May 11 and put Jay Bruce on the Opening Day roster. Then came an oblique strain that knocked him out for two weeks before a bone bruise in that same left knee robbed him of another extended chunk of the season.
The soft tissue stuff isn’t what we’re worried about as much as the recurring knee problems, but still, despite a torrid August surge, Voit still appears likely on his way out of New York. When he was healthy and Anthony Rizzo was available, they didn’t play him. Seemingly end of story.
Frankly, we can stomach Voit going anywhere other than Boston, a destination that would make no sense for him. And yet … here he is pumping iron alongside Rafael Devers in a workout video he reposted to his own Instagram story, so … shade?
Yankees first baseman Luke Voit showed up with Rafael Devers working out.
Devers, of course, hit 38 bombs last season and might’ve tortured the Yankees more than any other hitter, non-Bo Bichette, in the division.
He’s not exactly the poster boy for getting swole, though; rather, his power is effortless.
To see Devers taking his conditioning up a notch this offseason is nearly as big a blow as watching Voit working out alongside him.
Though it’s only natural to call this Voit having one foot out the door, some fans went in the other direction — which is honestly a more pleasurable place to live in.
Welcome, new Yankees perma-DH Raffy Devers! Ice cream scoops for everyone!
If Voit lands in Milwaukee as his Yankees tenure inevitably ends, it’ll sting. But if he ends up within the division and finally plays a full season as he hitter we know he is (109 OPS+ in a down year last season, folks!), it’ll truly sting.