Yankees’ Alex Verdugo Says He Was ‘Mad’ About Trade From Red Sox

Alex Verdugo admitted Thursday that he was initially “mad’ when learning he was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the rival New York Yankees, though he’s since come around on the change in address.

“I was hot,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, they really sent me to the rival? The Yankees?’ After about a day, I just started sitting back and started thinking, started reminiscing about how this year went with the Red Sox, kinda everything that was going on. Then I started thinking, having guys reach out—Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rizzo—these guys started reaching out and welcoming me to the team. It just then got me excited.”

The Yankees sent right-handed pitchers Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice for Verdugo in early December, the first move in a much-needed attempt to bolster the outfield.

The second move was the true blockbuster, as the team acquired superstar Juan Soto.

But the 27-year-old Verdugo was nonetheless a nice pickup at a position of need for the Bronx Bombers. He hit .264 with 13 homers, 54 RBI, 81 runs and a .743 OPS across 143 games in 2023.

Verdugo, who also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2017-19) before his four seasons in Boston, said he’s adjusted to the idea of playing for his once-rivals.

“Like I said before, fresh start,” he noted. “It feels good. I just wanna go to this organization and work hard, prove maybe a lot of these, ‘He said, she said’ things wrong. I wanna show them that we’re all people, man, we’re all humans. And yeah we make mistakes, but how do we learn from it? How do we bounce back from it? And how much stronger do we get from that?”

Verdugo was benched by Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora twice in 2023, once for a lack of hustle and the second time for showing up late on game day. He told reporters after the season that he dealt with family issues and other things off the field that impacted him throughout the year.

“When your family is affected, when your family’s not doing the best, it weighs on you,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m a professional. I’ve gotta go out there and handle our job and do what we have to do. My mind has been in a lot of different places.”

He added at the time that he didn’t have any bad blood with Cora or the Red Sox and just saw those decisions as tough love—albeit tough love that was perhaps made more public when it involved him than other players—but his trade to the Yankees might change his feelings on his previous organization just a bit.