Yankees acquire Alex Verdugo from Red Sox, are reportedly still interested in Juan Soto
7 months ago
The Winter Meetings have finally produced a big move.
Jeff Passan reported on Tuesday evening that the New York Yankees were acquiring Alex Verdugo from the Boston Red Sox. Right-handed pitchers Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, and Nicholas Judice are going the other way.
This is a pretty big haul for the Red Sox considering that Verdugo is slightly above average at best. In 2023, he slashed .264/.324/.421 with 13 homers (tied for a career-high) in 602 plate appearances for a 98 wRC+ and 2 FWAR. For his career, Verdugo is slashing .281/.337/.428 with 57 homers in 2559 plate appearances, accumulating 9.2 fWAR.
In any season where he’s had 400 or more plate appearances, he’s never had a wRC+ above 107. He’s a serviceable outfielder who will occasionally run into a home run and avoids striking out.
Reliever Nicholas Judice has never played a game professionally, as he was drafted in the eighth round of the 2023 draft. He pitched for the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in the NCAA for four seasons and had a 4.09 ERA in 114 1/3 innings pitched.
Greg Weissert is the only pitcher with MLB experience, as the 28-year-old had a 4.05 ERA and a 4.36 FIP in 20 innings pitched with the Yankees in 2023. For his career, he has a 4.60 ERA and a 4.29 FIP in 31.1 innings, along with a 24.4 K% and a 9.6 BB%.
Richard Fitts ranked as the Yankees’ 17th best prospect according to Fangraph and 16th best prospect according to Baseball America. The 23-year-old pitched the entirety of the season in Double-A, posting a 3.48 ERA and a 3.92 FIP in 152.2 innings, along with a 25.9 K% and a 6.8 BB%.
Other ramifications:
Despite the fact that the Yankees just traded for an outfielder, it appears that they’re still in the hunt to trade for star outfielder Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres.
In fact, former general manager Jim Bowden believes that Verdugo could be packaged with pitcher Michael King and prospect Drew Thorpe to acquire Soto.
Buckle up, baseball fans, it’s going to be an exciting period over the next few days once Shohei Ohtani signs. I can’t wait.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads @Brennan_L_D.
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