"He’s basically getting everything he would be able to get without being part of a team."
Alex Verdugo lasted just one season in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
When the Red Sox traded Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a now-infamous deal in February 2020, Boston hoped that promising outfielder Alex Verdugo would develop into a franchise fixture in due time.
But a little over five years later, it appears as though Verdugo is on the outside looking in at big-league reps for the 2025 season.
The 28-year-old Verdugo might be in the prime of his career, but after an underwhelming 2024 season with the Yankees, it looks as though the gifted outfielder is not a hot commodity on the open market.
While the 2025 MLB regular season officially began on Tuesday with a two-game series between the Dodgers and Cubs in Tokyo, Verdugo has yet to put pen to paper on any deal so far this spring.
And according to The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty, Verdugo “hasn’t received a single major-league offer since becoming a free agent.”
While New York opted not to re-sign Verdugo this offseason in order to clear up playing time for rookie outfielder Jasson Domínguez, several of Verdugo’s teammates in New York admitted that they’ve been surprised over Verdugo’s inability to land an MLB contract so far.
“I am surprised,” Aaron Judge told Kuty. “He’s such a great player. He brings so much value and versatility to a team.”
“I don’t really know what to say or whether or not people want to talk about it or not, but he’s grinding,” Anthony Volpe added of Verdugo’s status. “He’s putting a lot of work in Arizona. He’s basically getting everything he would be able to get without being part of a team. I think he’s definitely ready to go.”
Verdugo had a tumultuous four-year stretch with the Red Sox, with some of his encouraging production on the field undercut by reported clashes with manager Alex Cora and inconsistent play.
After batting .308 in his first year with Boston during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, Verdugo saw his production wane with each new season.
In his final year with Boston in 2023, Verdugo batted .264 with 13 home runs and 54 RBI over 142 games — drawing the ire of Cora in August 2023 for allegedly showing up late to the ballpark for a game against the Blue Jays.
“I’m very disappointed,” Cora said, per Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. “This is probably one of my worst days here in this organization. Today we took a step back. I feel responsible because I’m the leader of this team. … “Today we took a step back as a team. We have to make sure everybody’s available every single day here for us to get to wherever we’re going to go and that wasn’t the case.”
The Red Sox ultimately opted to trade Verdugo to their top rival in the Yankees in December 2023 in exchange for pitchers Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, and Nicholas Judice.
Even though the Yankees made it all the way to the World Series last season, Verdugo struggled in his lone year in The Bronx — batting just .233 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI over 149 games.
