Purple Sox
“We just like the group of arms which can be coming again and felt like we had an opportunity to enhance our membership by doing that.”
The writing was on the wall for months that Alex Verdugo was going to don one other jersey in 2024.
Even with the proficient outfielder below contract with Boston subsequent season, Verdugo discovered himself in Alex Cora’s doghouse in 2023 on account of a number of disciplinary points.
Cora put Verdugo on the pine in early June for an absence of hustle and benched him once more in early August for allegedly exhibiting as much as the ballpark late.
After sitting Verdugo in August, Cora provided up certainly one of his harshest postgame press conferences as a Purple Sox supervisor.
“I’m very upset,” Cora stated, per Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. “That is in all probability certainly one of my worst days right here on this group. At present we took a step again. I really feel accountable as a result of I’m the chief of this staff. … “At present we took a step again as a staff. We have now to verify all people’s out there each single day right here for us to get to wherever we’re going to go and that wasn’t the case.”
Given Verdugo’s historical past of butting heads with Cora, was Tuesday’s commerce to the Yankees a direct results of the outfielder’s disciplinary points?
Purple Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow instructed MassLive’s Christopher Smith that the motivation behind Tuesday’s deal centered round Boston’s roster, fairly than Verdugo’s personal actions.
“It didn’t [factor in] on condition that what we have been seeking to do is sort of perceive how we might make our staff higher,” Breslow instructed Smith. “In fact, I wasn’t right here for any of these issues. However by way of these being a consideration, they weren’t. We just like the group of arms which can be coming again and felt like we had an opportunity to enhance our membership by doing that. And … spreading out a few of these at-bats throughout a number of the younger guys we’ve got.”
Though it stays to be seen how a lot big-league upside Boston has in newly acquired pitchers Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, and Nicholas Judice, the Purple Sox additionally have been within the midst of a roster crunch this winter by way of their outfield.
Boston nonetheless has outfielders Masataka Yoshida, Jarren Duran, Rob Refsnyder, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela on its 40-man roster. Blue-chip prospect Roman Anthony can also be a viable candidate to earn MLB reps in 2024 after advancing all the best way to Double-A Portland in September.
“One factor we’ve got is mostly a dynamic, athletic group of outfielders,” Breslow instructed Smith. “So I believe as how we’re presently constructed, getting these at-bats within the outfield unfold throughout Duran, Rafaela, Abreu after which clearly Yoshida.”
Talking on Wednesday morning, Cora didn’t supply a lot on his terse relationship with Verdugo.
“Clearly Alex is an entire participant,” Cora stated of Verdugo throughout an interview with MLB Community Radio on SiriusXM. “We all know he’s defender, hitter, in all probability he matches Yankee Stadium. … “You can not fear concerning the opposition, proper? It’s about what will make you higher as a corporation.”
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