Quick thoughts after the Yankees trade for Alex Verdugo
Added 2023-12-06 03:23:41 +0000 UTC
There's a new No. 99 in the Bronx (I kid, I kid)
The Yankees have a new left-handed hitting outfielder, but not the one we all want. Late Tuesday night the Yankees acquired Alex Verdugo from the Red Sox (!) for minor league righties Richard Fitts, Nick Judice, and Greg Weissert. The trade has been announced. It is official. I guess I should be thankful the Yankees didn’t trade Gleyber Torres for him?
Verdugo, 27, steps into Josh Donaldson’s I-can’t-stand-this-guy roster spot. I mean seriously, the Yankees have to start winning back an angry and increasingly apathetic fan base, and their first significant move of the offseason is trading for Alex Verdugo??? The guy who got into it with fans at Yankee Stadium, has been benched for showing up late, and then all of this?
The best case scenario is the Yankees intend to flip Verdugo to the Padres in a potential Juan Soto trade, but why would San Diego take on Verdugo’s projected $9.2M salary when they are reportedly trying to unload Trent Grisham’s projected $4.9M salary? Would the Yankees really eat Verdugo’s salary to facilitate a trade? I have a hard time buying that.
Verdugo authored a .264/.324/.421 (98 wRC+) line with 13 home runs this year, his third straight season of declining production. Verdugo peaked during the shortened pandemic season and has been trending down since despite being at an age when he should be getting better: 125 wRC+ in 2020 to 106 wRC+ in 2021 to 102 wRC+ in 2022 to now 98 wRC+ in 2023.
This season Verdugo put up +9 DRS and +1 OAA in right field. He’s not going to play right field for the Yankees, not unless they plan to put 32-year-old Aaron Judge in center full-time one year after a major toe injury. Verdugo hasn’t played center since 2021, and while he’s rated well in left (+15 DRS and +2 OAA from 2021-22), it’s not enough glove to carry an average bat in a corner spot.
To be fair, Verdugo does what the Yankees need as a low strikeout (career 15.1%) left-handed hitter, and he is miles better offensively than the guys the Yankees ran out there in left field in 2023. But he lacks power and he doesn’t pull the ball enough to really take advantage of the short porch, and doesn’t do anything on the bases (other than get himself benched). On a good team, Verdugo is a 7-8-9 hitter. On the current version of the Yankees, he’ll probably hit leadoff.
The Yankees didn’t give up a whole lot to get Verdugo. Fitts was a top 10-15 prospect in the system and might be a reliever long-term, Weissert is an up-and-down bullpen guy, and the Yankees took Judice in the eighth round of this summer's draft. It’s a quantity over quality trade, and none of the three players the Yankees surrendered figure to come back to bite them in 2024.
Jack Curry, the only one who should be trusted on such matters, says the Yankees remain in the mix for Soto, but they did just move some pitching depth (namely Fitts, who was ticketed for the Triple-A rotation) when they will presumably have to part with a lot of arms to get Soto. Unless the Padres absolutely must have Verdugo, it just got a little more difficult to make a Soto deal.
Also, why should I believe there’s another move coming? How many times have we said “there has to be another move coming” the last two years, and the other move never came? Verdugo is right in the Yankees’ wheelhouse, meaning not as good as they seem to think, and they’ll spin him being so unlikable as “having an edge.” It is the perfect 2023 Yankees move.
Comments
He's never been below average? He had a 98 wrc+ this year. Definitionally below average
John
2023-12-06 12:55:07 +0000 UTCI don't like Verdugo, but I never liked Damon or Boggs until they were very good Yankees, so I'll try to ignore that. I do fear that this will close the door on Soto - perhaps the asking price was too high and it could make sense, but I feel like it's once again the NYY going cheap instead of going bold. If they also get Soto and have Verdugo as the fourth outfielder, he's certainly a step up from the terrible depth they have had in the OF recently.
DZB
2023-12-06 11:06:48 +0000 UTCOn one hand, they gave up nothing for him. On the other, Woof. If the Yankees got him to say, we’ll pay for Verdugo’s contract to lessen the prospect capital for Soto then that’s fine and a sort of move the Yankees should do and he’s a decent (not good) backup plan in case things crater. It’s only 1 year so overall it’s a 6.2/10 move for me. There’s still a lot of offseason left and from what we are all reading, Soto trade seems to be gaining steam according to Curry and Andy Martino so I do have some faith it’ll be done. Let’s see where the chips fall, but I do understand the perspective of not trusting the Yankees front office currently, and fault no one for saying this move sucks.
The Original Drew
2023-12-06 08:24:08 +0000 UTCGoodbye Soto, it was fun dreaming for a few days. Back to reality…
Federico Triulzi
2023-12-06 06:28:51 +0000 UTCmarshalls
Weiyu Dang
2023-12-06 05:41:08 +0000 UTCI guess I'll be in the minority here. I like the deal. Kind of. I’m okay if he stays; I like it even more if he’s used as part of a Soto deal. Verdugo may not be a great hitter, but he is a decent hitter. He's never been a below league average hitter by B-R. He's a lefty, decent contact rates, and he's not really a product of Fenway. His home/road splits were helped by Fenway last year, but the opposite the prior year. For his career, his splits are fine. He used to hold up against lefty pitchers, although he may now best be served in the heavy side of a platoon role. His doubles will decrease, his HRs could increase based on switching Fenway for Yankee Stadium. He's a very good fielder. He plays with an edge, for better or worse, and he seems the type to torture the Red Sox in 2024 for trading him away. He's admitted he plays with an extra edge against his former teams. Frankly, over the last few seasons, he's one of the Red Sox players who made me uncomfortable with the game on the line, but that could be more an indictment of their team that’s now finished last in three of the past four seasons. If Judge has to play CF for a bit, fine, although that will depend on the condition of his toe. If healthy, smart organizations are not afraid to deploy their better athletes in multiple positions to fit the needs of the teams . The Dodgers are moving Mookie to 2B. The Rays move players all over. It's clear that the Yankees were hasty moving Judge off of CF when he was drafted. They took a good defensive CFer and moved him to the corner, and eventually to the short RF where they could be hiding much weaker defenders. I'm not saying Judge should be the permanent CFer, because he shouldn’t, but they can certainly move him there for part of a season if need be. Would a repeat of 2022 when he played more in CF than RF be such a bad thing? I'm a fan of Fitts. I saw him pitch in the minors and I think he has the potential to be a decent backend MLB pitcher if he can continue to develop a third pitch, but he’s an acceptable price to pay. At the end of today, the Yankees are a slightly better team than they were at the start. Now let's see what else they add. Or if Verdugo even remains a Yankee. Soto rumors heating up.
MikeD
2023-12-06 04:52:04 +0000 UTCI think this is fine and the aspect of "winning back the fanbase" is kind of nonsense. If this is it then yeah it's a big disappointment but in itself it's a bit of an upgrade for not much of a price.
John G
2023-12-06 04:35:44 +0000 UTCNordstrom Rack
Michael Nelson
2023-12-06 04:33:55 +0000 UTCI like it. We were talking about trading Gleyber for this guy! We need a LH OF! I personally think he's fun to watch play. At the least he's extremely good insurance if we don't get Soto. I dunno man, I like the guy.
Michael Nelson
2023-12-06 04:33:16 +0000 UTCHe probably liked Nestor because he used the n word
jody vukas
2023-12-06 04:17:08 +0000 UTCWe want Cashman to buy our Christmas gifts from Nordstrom but he’s shopping at Duane Reade instead.
Bruce
2023-12-06 04:14:45 +0000 UTCWoof! Doing this after all the big talk in the press availability almost feels like trolling. Who knows what the overall plan is but if they try this marginal improvement, look for under-the-radar guys approach again they’re flirting with disaster. When’s the last time they signed a premier top shelf position player in free agency? Teixeira? Now there’s a 25 year old generational talent available that they have the prospect capital to acquire but that price is also too high. We can debate the names and the cost but passing on Harper, Machado, Seager, Verlander, et al. is the real reason that the promise of ‘16 is rapidly fading to a flicker. Never mind the Baby Bombers, we’re dealing with the Children Chiselers in the owners box. If this move is indicative of their ultimate approach to roster construction and payroll outlay, I won’t be attending any games and I’m a half hour walk or a ten minute train ride from the stadium. I know that doesn’t have an effect on their bottom line but it does on mine!
KD Tolliver
2023-12-06 04:11:17 +0000 UTCSolid move
Will H.
2023-12-06 04:04:42 +0000 UTC$9M.
Sandeep Motwani
2023-12-06 03:56:01 +0000 UTCLiked the trade at first. Until I remembered the antics…
Dan G
2023-12-06 03:54:03 +0000 UTCSo much misery. I love this dude in Yankee Stadium. When Stanton is on the 60 day with a quad injury and this dude is supplying professional at-bats from the left side it will help the team. If he's the big offseason move I'm pissed otherwise this guy will be great as a semi-regular. Everyone can't bitch about McKinney, Bauers, etc, and then get mad when we bring in a decent bat.
JohnLag
2023-12-06 03:44:19 +0000 UTC“Also, why should I believe there’s another move coming? How many times have we said “there has to be another move coming” the last two years, and the other move never came? Verdugo is right in the Yankees’ wheelhouse, meaning not as good as they seem to think, and they’ll spin him being so unlikable as “having an edge.” It is the perfect 2023 Yankees move.” Exactly. I have zero faith that another move other than a CF on a 1-2 year contract is on its way.
Mark P in VT
2023-12-06 03:43:00 +0000 UTCI think the Donaldson hate was more the fan base than the team. There was a cool pic in the NY post last week of him at Nestor Cortes wedding with a bunch of other players and he seemed firmly like one of the boys. Verdugo on the other hand is a total a-hole. Can't think of a guy in the league I'd less like to root for.
pkmuldy
2023-12-06 03:41:21 +0000 UTCCould be price for Soto isn't coming down and now it's Verdugo in left, Bellinger in center, Yamamoto in the rotation and we keep all our pitchers. Could also be Verdugo in left, Bader in CF and Montas in the rotation, and all our young pitchers go bust.
pkmuldy
2023-12-06 03:33:35 +0000 UTCBoy, I just love the Yankees taking bad players off of rivals' hands. It's their favorite move of the 2020s. At the absolute best this gives them marginally more leverage in Soto talks. In reality it's just another bad move from a broken player evaluation process for another asshole that sucks at baseball
Nick Fugitt
2023-12-06 03:29:33 +0000 UTCThis is an utterly frustrating and maddening move. WTF!
David Nelson
2023-12-06 03:29:31 +0000 UTCI zero faith in Yankees management and this trade feels like the answer to “oh we tried getting Soto”, and talks fell apart. It’s gonna be Yamamoto (hopefully) and filler this offseason.
Christian Pellot
2023-12-06 03:27:57 +0000 UTC
