New Red Sox acquisition Willson Contreras takes shot at Yankees as rivarly heats up

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is alive and well.

Over a month after newly-acquired Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray ripped his former team as “easy to hate,” Boston’s new first baseman followed suit in taking a shot at the Yankees.

Willson Contreras, who, just like Gray, was acquired in a trade with the Cardinals, made it clear that he’s not joining his new team with any fond feelings toward its AL East rivals.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Contreras said about facing the Yankees during a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday. “Whenever I play the Yankees, from [my time] with the Cubs or St. Louis, my mindset was different. We have to win, we have to win, we have to win. And we have to play good baseball.

“I know the Yankees are a really good team, and they have really good players. But I’m not coming to Boston just to like the Yankees, because that’s not going to happen.

“They’re probably going to start hating me whenever we play against each other, but I’m going to play with fire, I’m going to play with emotion and show them we can win.”