The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees don’t often make trades. The exchange that sent Alex Verdugo from Boston to New York before the 2024 season will live on as one of the few in their histories.
Verdugo arrived in Boston from the Los Angeles Dodgers as one of its returns in the Mookie Betts trade, which became an even more spectacular failure after his tenure with the Sox didn’t work out. But trading the outfielder to the Yankees helped the Red Sox get at least a little bit more out of the Betts deal.
The Sox received three pitchers from the Yankees in exchange for Verdugo — Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice. Boston’s pitching development has been notoriously poor under previous front offices, but chief baseball officer Craig Breslow transformed it rather quickly in the trade market and through the MLB Draft.
One year after the Verdugo trade, the Yankees could use some of the depth they sent to Boston. Gerrit Cole underwent Tommy John surgery on March 11 and will be out for the season, and Luis Gil is battling a lat strain that will have him sidelined for nearly three months.
Leave a Reply