{"id":34287,"date":"2025-03-19T07:24:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T07:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287"},"modified":"2025-03-19T07:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T07:24:59","slug":"breaking-embarrassing-alex-verdugo-report-surfaces-as-he-looks-for-next-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Oct<\/picture><\/div>
Oct 29, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (24) reacts after hitting a sacrifice RBI against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning during game four of the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n

With just under two weeks until Opening Day, former Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo remains a free agent. The former centerpiece of the 2020 trade that sent Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers hit 281\/.338\/.424 with 43 home runs and 206 RBI in four seasons with the Red Sox. But things didn\u2019t go as well when he signed with the New York Yankees last offseason.<\/p>\n

After his lowest full-season OPS of his career (.647) and hitting just .208\/.309\/.313 during the Yankees\u2019 run to the World Series, Verdugo hit the market this winter. But not even the most bitter Red Sox fan could imagine how his offseason has unfolded.<\/p>\n

Alex Verdugo Reportedly Hasn\u2019t Received A Single Offer This Offseason<\/h2>\n

According\u00a0to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Verdugo hasn\u2019t received a single major league offer since becoming a free agent last winter. Kuty also adds that several Yankees are perplexed over the fact he is still available including his former manager Aaron Boone.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe a little bit surprised because he\u2019s without question a big-league player and a big-league starting player for me,\u201d Boone said. \u201cIt probably hasn\u2019t lined up money-wise and team-wise and need-wise, but he was great with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verdugo\u2019s stay in the Bronx was short-term due to the Yankees outfield situation. Top prospect Jasson Dominguez slated to replace Verdugo in left field next season with Aaron Judge in right field and offseason trade addition Cody Bellinger in center field.<\/p>\n

But even if New York wasn\u2019t interested, there are several reasons why Verdugo made sense for other teams. His defense remains one of the best in the game, logging seven defensive runs saved last season and Verdugo continues to have encouraging peripherals at the plate\u00a0according to Baseball Savant\u00a0including a 33.4% squared up rate (96th percentile), 25.5% chase rate (70th percentile) and 15.5% whiff rate (93rd percentile).<\/p>\n

You could counter by bringing up Verdugo\u2019s average exit velocity of 88.3 mph (32nd percentile) or his 68.4 mph bat speed (11th percentile), which was tracked for the first time last season. He also\u00a0threw shade at Alex Cora\u00a0on his way out of Boston criticizing his decision to bench him on multiple occasions including an incident when he arrived late to a game in Aug. 2023.<\/p>\n

Those comments drew the ire of former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon who called Verdugo \u201ca b—\u201d during\u00a0an appearance on Foul Territory in January 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know one thing, I don\u2019t want him on my team,\u201d Papelbon said. \u201cI don\u2019t want somebody who shows up late every day, who doesn\u2019t care, that really plays for himself. Can that work in New York? Yeah it can work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though\u00a0he continued to rip the Red Sox culture\u00a0last season, it\u2019s curious that nobody wants Verdugo. The Miami Marlins are starting Kyle Stowers in left field. The Chicago White Sox are starting Travis Jankowski. The Colorado Rockies are starting Nolan Jones after he fell off a cliff last year. There are other teams that could use him but may scoff at his $8.7 million salary one year ago, underlining one of baseball\u2019s biggest problems.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the off-the-field antics caught up with Verdugo. But after drawing positive reviews in New York, it\u2019s one of the most curious storylines heading into the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oct 29, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (24) reacts after hitting a sacrifice RBI against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oct 29, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (24) reacts after hitting a sacrifice RBI against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-19T07:24:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287\",\"name\":\"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-19T07:24:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-19T07:24:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":405},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"Oct 29, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo (24) reacts after hitting a sacrifice RBI against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2025-03-19T07:24:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":405,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287","name":"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-19T07:24:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-19T07:24:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/01jpn18pk3k136qba424.jpg","width":720,"height":405},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34287#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING: Embarrassing Alex Verdugo Report Surfaces as He Looks for Next Team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34289,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34287\/revisions\/34289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}