With Opening Day for most teams now just nine days away â and with the season already underway for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs â 56 MLB players are still without teams for the 2025 season. But all of those free agents have one thing in common. They are all at least 30 years old.
In fact, most are well over 30, which likely accounts for the fact that they remain unsigned. On free agent, pitcher Rich Hill who has played for 13 teams in his 20 year career, is 45 years old. All but six of the remaining 56 are over 33 years old.
But there is one player who does not fit this description, who at age 28 would appear to be in the prime of his career. Alex Verdugo, who spent 2024 with the New York Yankees and was last seen swinging and missing on three straight pitches to end the decisive Game Five of the World Series against the Dodgers, not only remains unsigned he has not received an offer from any team.
Yankee Players ‘Surprised’ at Verdugo’s Free Agent Futility
Verdugo’s rejection, at least so far, but all 30 MLB teams was revealed on Tuesday by Brendan Kuty, who covers the Yankees for The Athletic.
“Last season, Verdugo made $8.7 million. A league source told The Athletic that the 28-year-old hasnât received a single major-league offer since becoming a free agent,” Kuty wrote. “Verdugo had a down season offensively in 2024 but was reliable on defense and quickly became a key component of the Yankeesâ clubhouse, according to teammates.”
Kuty interviewed several of Verdugo’s former Yankee teammates, who said they were “surprised” that the former Dodgers No. 1 overall prospect remained without a contract as of March 18.
âI am surprised,â team captain Aaron Judge told Kuty. âHeâs such a great player. He brings so much value and versatility to a team.â
Verdugo’s Offense Collapsed After Solid Start to 2024
Unfortunately, Verdugo despite seemingly being well-liked by his teammates did not bring much value to the Yankees in 2024. He started the season in impressive fashion, belting four home runs in April and posting an .804 OPS for his first 29 games of the season. But things quickly went south after that, and Verdugo was particularly poor down the stretch of the regular season. He posted anemic OPS numbers of .549 in August and .608 in September and October.
With an on-base percentage under .300 (.291) for the season, Verdugo was an out-making machine. The Yankees showed no interest in retaining him after a single season in which he played on a one-year, $8.7 million contract after being obtained in a trade with the Boston Red Sox in exchange for three minor league pitching prospects.
Verdugo came to Boston from the Dodgers in the shocking trade that sent 2018 American League MVP Mookie Betts to Los Angeles in February, 2020. At the time, Ian Browne of MLB.com called Verdugo “a 23-year-old starting outfielder on the rise.”
But after a 2021 season in which he specialized in clutch hits that helped propel the underdog Red Sox to 92 wins and an electric postseason run that saw them just two wins away from a trip to the World Series, Verdugo appeared to fall out of favor with manager Alex Cora.
By 2023, Cora repeatedly benched Verdugo for lack of effort on the field and showing up late to the ballpark.
Earlier in March, reports surfaced that the Pittsburgh Pirates had “floated” an $8 million offer to Verdugo, but according to Kuty’s reporting either that offer was never made, or at least never formalized.
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