Red Sox Trade Alex Verdugo to the Yankees

Ok, um, that's strange

It’s hard to figure. On the most basic of levels, the Red Sox just traded their starting right fielder of the last four years, Alex Verdugo, to their biggest rival, the New York Yankees. That alone would be odd. And it is! So odd! The last time the Red Sox made a deal of such significance with the Yankees was 1934 when Boston traded Harry Gutmeyer to New York for “Filthy Bones” McGee, a trade that maybe 10 percent of you are now frantically googling while the other 90 percent are lamenting that we don’t have anyone in baseball right now with the nickname Filthy Bones.

It’s been a while is the point. The Red Sox don’t make trades with the Yankees.

Also of note, this is the second straight Red Sox GM/POBO whose first major move in the position has involved a trade of Alex Verdugo. Let’s hope that’s not some sort of harbinger.

But let’s get to it. I’ve thought a lot about this trade and it only makes sense in two basic ways. The first is the Red Sox didn’t want Alex Verdugo on their team anymore. They were willing to send him to the Yankees because they were willing to send him anywhere that wasn’t Boston. Alex Cora, it’s being reported, wanted him out and given the number of times Verdugo was suspended or benched by the team over the past season, we probably shouldn’t be surprised. So jot this down as an ‘addition by subtraction’ attempt.

I’m not saying that it’ll work, but I do think that’s the idea. The item on the to-do list didn’t say “get something good for Alex Verdugo,” it said “get rid of Alex Verdugo.” So mission accomplished.

The second way this makes sense is as a part of something else. FanGraphs has the current Red Sox starting outfield as Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, and Ceddanne Rafaela. I would put my life savings down on the fact that that trio will not be the starting outfield for the Boston Red Sox on Opening Day. There’s gonna be another addition. I’m not saying it’ll be Juan Soto (PLEASE BE JUAN SOTO) but it’s gonna be someone. Lourdes Gurriel, Jr has been reported as a player of interest. Presumably there are others on the trade market as well. But this deal makes sense only in the context of another deal that hasn’t happened yet.

As for the trade itself, Boston sent Verdugo and his one season of team control where he’ll earn roughly $9 million to New York and the Yankees sent back three pitchers. I won’t pretend to be any kind of expert on the depths of the Yankees minor league system, so I’m relying on reports from elsewhere to give you these details (MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, FanGraphs).

Richard Fitts, 23, seems like the headliner. He was the 12th ranked Yankees prospect by MLB Pipeline yesterday and today, following the trade, they have him 10th in the Red Sox system. He was a starter in Double-A for the Yankees last season, living primarily off of his fastball and slider/sweeper combination. He has a changeup that needs work. He sounds like a major leaguer but maybe less of an impact guy than a back of the rotation piece. We’ll see how Craig Breslow’s new pitching factory handles him.

Greg Weissert is a 28-year-old right handed reliever who spent parts of the last couple seasons in New York and the other parts in the minors. He’s another fastball/slider guy who, due to having options remaining, projects as an up-and-down bullpen guy in 2024.

Nicholas Judice, 22, is tall. He’s 6’8. So that’s something! Beyond that, Judice was a college reliever with good pitch characteristics who didn’t pitch in the pros after the Yankees picked him in the eighth round of the 2023 draft. Some seem to think he can be stretched out as a starter, but we’ll see how the Red Sox see things.

So this is where the Alex Verdugo era ends, with an odd dump on the Yankees for three unspectacular minor league pitchers. And it’s not even with anyone in particular ready to step in and start in right field. No, the Red Sox were so content with Verdugo that they kinda gave him away to a division rival without a succession plan in place.

And not to go here, but heck, let’s go here: The Red Sox were always going to lose the Mookie Betts trade because they were the ones trading Mookie Betts. But wow. The package they got back was, to put it kindly, not what they wanted. Verdugo was a league average player (who hit really well in the post-season) with personality issues. Connor Wong is a backup catcher. Jeter Downs was so bad he got released. There’s that meme of the guy who can’t seem to get a bad taste out of his mouth. That meme is all of Red Sox nation forever after this trade.

As for Verdugo, a new start is probably a good thing for him, and his lefty swing will fit in well at Yankee Stadium. With that ridiculous little league wall in right field, I wouldn’t be surprised to see his power numbers juice up well next season. He’s gonna have a good year in New York.

For the Red Sox, they now have no right fielder, so they have more work to do than they had yesterday. But that’s how it goes. Impossibly the Betts trade looks even worse now, but whatever. The important thing is the Red Sox now need a right fielder. Add it to the list.

Thanks for reading.