In his eight-year Major League Baseball career, 28-year-old Alex Verdugo has played for some of baseball’s most storied franchises. He came in to the big leagues in 2017 as the No. 3 prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ system, but was soon a piece in one of the most notorious trades of recent years. The Dodgers shipped him to Boston in the deal that sent Red Sox superstar Mookie Betts to Los Angeles.
With the Red Sox, Verdugo was one of the team’s few bright spots in an otherwise grim 2020, COVID-truncated season. The team finished last in the American League East, wining just 24 games in the shortened, 60-game season. But “Dugie,” as he became known to teammates and fans, put up an OPS of .844 â still the highest of his career â and a very respectable wRC+ number (a measure of a hitter’s run-producing effectiveness where the league average is set to 100) of 125.
The following year, he helped lead a surprising Red Sox team to 92 wins, a Wild Card berth, and an improbable playoff run all the way the AL Championship Series, where Boston, after taking a 2-1 series lead fell in six games to the Houston Astros.
But Verdugo’s on-field performance declined from there. His wRC+ dipped to 102 in 2022, then below league average to 98 in 2023. He also ran into a series of disciplinary issues with Boston manager Alex Cora, who appeared to feel that Verdugo often gave less than his full effort on the field.
From Dodgers to Red Sox to Yankees
The Red Sox had seen enough. That offseason they shipped him to their hated rivals, the New York Yankees â which probably said something about how worried they were that Verdugo would improve. Their apparent prognostication proved correct. After a solid start to the 2024 campaign, Verdugo’s performance at the plate hit new lows â an OPS of just .647, a wRC+ of 83 â and where commanding the strike zone was once seen as one of Verdugo’s strengths, as a Yankee he drew just 49 walks in 621 plate appearances for an on-base percentage of just .291.
Needless to say, the Yankees let him slip into free agency. But now, despite his precipitous dip in performance, Verdugo is predicted by Bleacher Report baseball expert Kerry Miller to sign with another contending team, the Astros.
Houston has finished first in the AL West in all seven of the last seven full seasons, placing second only in the 60 game 2020 pandemic campaign. They have also played in four World Series over that span, winning twice.
Can ‘Dugie’ Stage a Comeback?
“After initially playing well, Verdugo had a .585 OPS over his final 95 regular-season games played,” the Bleacher Report writer noted. “He still started in left field for each of the Yankees’ 14 postseason games, and he hit a home run in Game 2 of the World Series. Goodness knows the Astros could use a corner outfielder.”
After trading away three-time All-Star Kyle Tucker, the Astros have an outfield vacancy. But the sports business site Spotrac projects Verdugo will sign for a $15.2 million salary in 2025. That would be a raise from the $9.2 million he was paid by the Yankees last year. The Astros dumped Tucker rather than pay the $16.5 million he commanded from his new team, the Chicago Cubs.
Robert Casey, head writer for the Bleeding Yankee Blue site, predicts a “bounce back” season for Verdugo, in Houston or wherever he ends up signing. But will Verdugo rebound? Projections published by the analytics site Fangraphs indicate more of the same for “Dugie” in 2025, albeit with a slight improvement. Fangraphs projects a .707 OPS, 99 wRC+, and an on-base percentage of .316.
Whether the Astros believe Verdugo is worth the money should be clear soon. The first full-squad workout of spring training for the Astros is set for 10 days from today.
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