Red Sox
“The real reaction was, you know, crazy. I was hot.”
Alex Verdugo played a total of four seasons in Boston before being traded in December. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
There appears to be no love lost between Alex Verdugo and the Red Sox.
Admittedly, the 27-year-old outfielder is now inclined to dislike Boston – considering he'll be wearing pinstripes in the upcoming 2024 season.
But after the Red Sox decided to trade Verdugo to the Yankees earlier this month, the outspoken Verdugo was open about his move to the Bronx as well as the current state of his former team.
“The real reaction was, you know, crazy. I was hot,” Verdugo said of the trade on his first Zoom call with New York reporters on Thursday. “I thought, 'Man, they really sent me to the rivals, the Yankees,' this, that. Then, after about a day, I started sitting back, thinking and remembering what that year was like with them Red Sox, everything that happened… I immediately shaved just so I could feel like I was in the middle of it all. I train every day with a Yankee hat to see how it suits me and how it feels. Like I said, a new beginning and it feels good.
“I just want to go to the organization. I just want to work hard and maybe prove that a lot of what he said, she said, is wrong. I just want to show them that we're all human, man, we're all human. Yes, we make mistakes. But how can we learn from them and recover from them, and how much stronger will we become as a result? I’m looking forward to this new beginning.”
Arguably the best return in Boston's franchise-altering trade that sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in February 2020, Verdugo experienced his fair share of ups and downs with Boston.
In four seasons with Boston, Verdugo hit .281/.338/.424 with a .761 OPS and 43 home runs, while also finishing second in 2023 AL Gold Glove voting among right fielders.
But the Red Sox struggled to put together a winning team during Verdugo's extended tenure here, making the postseason just once in those four years.
“I thought they were in a rebuilding process,” Verdugo said of the Red Sox, transcribed by Julian McWilliams of The Boston Globe. “I thought Chaim Bloom did a really good job of rebuilding the farm system, bringing in guys and young, fresh guys. And I think ideally that was the goal. I think they used him [as a scapegoat] when they failed to get rid of him.”
While finishing last again in 2023, Verdugo ended up in Alex Cora's doghouse several times.
Cora benched Verdugo in early June for a lack of hustle and benched him again in early August for allegedly arriving late to the ballpark.
After firing Verdugo in August, Cora delivered one of her toughest postgame press conferences as a Red Sox manager.
“I’m very disappointed,” Cora said, according to 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 am the leader of this team… “Today we took a step back as a team. We need to make sure everyone is available here every day so we can get to where we want to go, and that hasn’t been the case.”
When talking about Yankees manager Aaron Boone and his defense of his players, Verdugo appeared to take a slight dig at Cora and his public criticism of the then-Sox outfielder last summer.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Aaron,” said Verdugo. “I saw how he supports his players. The one who really [sticks out] To me that means: “These guys are savages!” He shouts at the referee. This is something I want to see from myself [manager], Man. I want to see some fire, some fighting for the boys. Instead of letting people out, you should have their backs.”
Verdugo and the Yankees won't play the Red Sox until June 14 next season, with the longtime rivals set to play 13 times in the final four months of the 2024 season.
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