{"id":41248,"date":"2025-04-15T07:23:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T07:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=41248"},"modified":"2025-04-15T07:23:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T07:23:18","slug":"yankees-9-2-million-reject-closer-to-mlb-return-after-triple-a-3-run-homer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=41248","title":{"rendered":"Yankees&#8217; $9.2 Million Reject Closer to MLB Return After Triple-A 3-Run Homer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After one season with the New York Yankees \u2014 a season in which the 27-time World Series winners\u00a0made their 41st trip\u00a0to the Fall Classic \u2014 28-year-old Alex Verdugo had every expectation of landing another multi-million dollar contract, after making a career-high $9.2 million from the Yankees last year.<\/p>\n<p>That never happened. The Yankees showed no interest at all in re-signing him, and Verdugo remained unsigned until there was just one week remaining in spring training, when the Atlanta Braves gave him\u00a0a $1.5 million deal for one season, then promptly sent him down to the minor leagues. When &#8212; or even if &#8212; he would return to the big leagues was not clear.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"imageBox\">\n<div class=\"innerBox ar23-innerBox\"><picture class=\"mapping-embed\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.webp?w=790&amp;f=3fb09f8d0401f2012f4889d661118497 1x\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width: 992px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.jpg?w=790&amp;f=3fb09f8d0401f2012f4889d661118497 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width: 992px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.webp?w=900&amp;f=1e94289c79d2d84696df8faa0bf6161c 1x\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.jpg?w=900&amp;f=1e94289c79d2d84696df8faa0bf6161c 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.webp?w=790&amp;f=3fb09f8d0401f2012f4889d661118497 1x\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width: 481px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.jpg?w=790&amp;f=3fb09f8d0401f2012f4889d661118497 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width: 481px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.webp?w=450&amp;f=efe17f67f6549652ffdbd49e10e2490f 1x\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width: 0px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.jpg?w=450&amp;f=efe17f67f6549652ffdbd49e10e2490f 1x\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width: 0px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.webp?w=1200&amp;f=45cf308bd527a6b3ab25cdd8187c977d\" type=\"image\/webp\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i2627140\" class=\"mapping-embed imgPhoto\" src=\"https:\/\/d.newsweek.com\/en\/full\/2627140\/former-new-york-yankees-outfielder-alex-verdugo.jpg?w=1200&amp;f=45cf308bd527a6b3ab25cdd8187c977d\" alt=\"Former New York Yankees Outfielder Alex Verdugo.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"caption ar23-caption\"><span id=\"short-cap-description\" class=\"cap\">NEW YORK, NEW YORK &#8211; SEPTEMBER 25: Alex Verdugo #24 of the New York Yankees looks on against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on September 25, 2024 in the Bronx borough of New York&#8230;<\/span>\u00a0<button id=\"read-more-cap\">More<\/button>\u00a0<span class=\"credit ar23-credit\">Luke Hales\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Then Jurickson Profar, the\u00a0Braves&#8217; three-year, $42 million\u00a0offseason signing, received a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing drug and the 80-game suspension that came with it. Suddenly, the Braves appear to need Verdugo \u2014 who posted\u00a0a full-season career-low\u00a0.647 OPS in his year with New York \u2014 to get a call-up.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, according to Fansided&#8217;s Eric Cole, after a 4-11 start the Braves may be hanging their hopes for turning their season around and making\u00a0an eighth straight trip\u00a0to the playoffs on the left fielder.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Over the weekend, there were increasing whispers that\u00a0Verdugo could get an opportunity\u00a0in the big leagues sooner rather than later. For everyone that has been watching Bryan De La Cruz, Jarred Kelenic, and co. so far this season, this makes loads of sense,&#8221; Cole wrote on Monday. &#8220;While expecting Verdugo to play like an All-Star may be asking too much, the Braves don&#8217;t really need him to be. If he can be a .270 hitter with some power and good defense, that would represent a massive upgrade.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0MLB.com Braves insider reporter\u00a0Mark Bowman, while giving the caveat that Verdugo may not be &#8220;the answer,&#8221; he &#8220;definitely won&#8217;t be any worse than Kelenic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Verdugo blasted a three-run home run in a minor league game on Sunday, then was pulled from the game, &#8220;fueling speculation that the veteran outfielder will be brought up and join Atlanta for its series in Toronto,&#8221;\u00a0according to The Athletic writer\u00a0David O&#8217;Brien.<\/p>\n<p>The Braves opened that series on Monday and Verdugo was not yet with the team. The Braves open a six-game homestand on Friday, which may also be a target date for Verdugo to be called up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After one season with the New York Yankees \u2014 a season in which the 27-time World Series winners\u00a0made their 41st trip\u00a0to the Fall Classic \u2014 28-year-old Alex&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yankees&#039; $9.2 Million Reject Closer to MLB Return After Triple-A 3-Run Homer - 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=41248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yankees&#039; 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