Alex Verdugo is one of the most prominent names still lingering on the free agent market, and it doesn’t sound as though he’s been close to coming off the board at any point. Brendan Kuty of The Athletic reports that Verdugo has yet to receive a formal major league offer from any team since becoming a free agent back in November. Kuty chatted with now-former teammates Aaron Judge, Anthony Volpe, Marcus Stroman and Trent Grisham about the situation, each of whom expressed surprise that Verdugo is unsigned and spoke highly of him as a teammate and member of the Yankees’ 2024 clubhouse.
Verdugo has drawn at least some interest from big league teams this winter — the Pirates, Angels and Astros among them. While Verdugo may not have received a formal written offer, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported recently that Pittsburgh “floated” a number around $8MM in discussions with the outfielder before pivoting to sign Tommy Pham for a year and $4.05MM. It’s not clear whether Verdugo didn’t find that number appealing or whether the Bucs preferred to spread out their limited resources. They signed Pham and Andrew Heaney for a combined $9.3MM.
The Astros were known to be looking for left-handed-hitting outfield help, but the front office has spent the offseason facing payroll limitations. Owner Jim Crane was seemingly only willing to exceed the luxury tax for Alex Bregman and Bregman alone. Houston was only about $5-6MM shy of the tax threshold when Ben Gamel was signed to a one-year, $1.2MM deal that seemingly closed the door on any potential match with Verdugo.
Verdugo, 29 in May, is coming off the worst full season of his career. His lone year with the Yankees resulted in a .233/.291/.356 batting line that clocked in 17% worse than average, by measure of wRC+. That paltry end-of-season line comes despite a terrific start to his 2024 campaign. Through mid-May, Verdugo was batting .275/.362/.450 in 141 plate appearances. He fell into a deep slump shortly thereafter and never really managed to recover; over his final 480 trips to the plate, he mustered only a .221/.270/.330 output. The only qualified hitters with a lower wRC+ than Verdugo’s mark of 69 during that time (indicating he was 31% below par at the plate) were Maikel Garcia and Bryan De La Cruz.
Even with that rough year, however, it’s still a moderate surprise that Verdugo’s market has been so quiet. He’s more than a year shy of his 30th birthday, and from 2019-23 he was a solid regular, hitting a combined .283/.338/.432 with solid or better corner outfield defense. He averaged two to three wins above replacement per 162 games played during that stretch. He might not be an All-Star like some had envisioned during his yearslong run as one of the sport’s top 100 prospects, but Verdugo has generally been a serviceable regular outside of his rough 2024 campaign.
At this point, it seems he might need to wait for an injury to create an opportunity for him. While there are still several teams that could clearly use a corner outfield upgrade, most clubs in that situation have either spent the bulk of their offseason budgets (e.g. Royals) or shown little to no interest whatsoever in spending this winter (e.g. Marlins).
He should have taken that 8 million and run.
Doesn’t sound like he had a choice.
Yeah this is definitely surprising.
Is it really? He’s not the 1st guy to hit in Fenway and not fare well in other ballparks. Also, he proved last season he couldn’t hit & is worthless in the outfield. I don’t see any teams taking a chance on him or Rizzo.
Worthless in the outfield? I guess you watch a lot of games…
When you don’t have an OBP of .300 you don’t last long
It would appear likely that he was expecting a larger contract. Bigger dollars and possibly multiple years.
We will likely never know for sure but this Appears to be the most logical explanation.
Doesn’t sound like he actually got a formal offer.
“Actually got a formal”…Sounds like he got an $8M offer that could have easily been “formal” had he shown interest.
How can you read this and come away thinking “it doesn’t sound like he got a formal offer”?
The offer was a floater
“was a floater”….Doogie is in no position to be picky. If he doesn’t play his cards better and more carefully, he could find himself waiting tables in an upscale downtown bistro.
@mlb there is nothing wrong with that work. And work is work.
True that.
?
Letting talented people waste their lives and their talent is a sin against God.
Helping create that situation is a sin against the world.
?
Not talking Verdugo.
There is a lot more talent there than baseball.
If everyone could maximize their talents and be perfectly matched to some vocation that matched their skillset we would be living in some sort of workers paradise that is unrealistic and likely unattainable. Sounds nice on paper. But that’s why there is sin in the world. Human’s are imperfect and they do stupid things to muck up their own lives.
The five prior years he was a league average hitter or better every year by OPS+. Good fielder. Only 28. Last year was his first off year, and he actually started strong. All reports indicate he was popular with his teammates on the Yankees. Find it hard to believe he can’t get an offer unless he’s asking price is known to be unreasonable.
Last year was the first time Verdugo line has wound up being pretty poor overall.
HOWEVER, if one recalls there were issues with him while with the red sox that actually let to him being available in trades based upon work ethic and how some team responsibilities were handled on his part, actually resulting in him being benched.
It’s like a lite version of Manny being Manny, except without the star-capabilities of, well, Manny.
It’s like Manny being Manny, if Manny Ramirez were a sausage vendor on Lansdowne.
GaSox – The two Alex’s going at it in 2023 was kinda like Reggie vs Billy, impossible to support either one of them.
Fever… you’re putting me in a particularly distasteful position here LOL…
I can’t believe im…. sticking up for Cora?
ACK!!!
At the end of the day, boss is boss. You can hate your boss and butt heads… to a point. But you risk no longer having a boss. Which, oddly, is what happened to duggie, although, for a platitude of reasons.
Still, to a degree, there is a certain deference where you’re supposed to shut it and do what’s expected under protest, which is where the subordinate fell short.
And don’t ask me why it autocorrected multitude to platitude….
The way I see it is that, if you can’t get along with Cora, you have a problem. Cora seldom calls out players.
By now it’s obvious that—like many Dodger hyped prospects— Verdugo is pretty meh. One can see how most clubs would shy away from him at anything over $4M, and why not let a younger prospect play?
Hey Pete, can you share any statistical data on overhyped prospects year on year by team or is the Dodger reference just pent up frustration from the Mookie trade?
One could say that the Bucs got more bang for their bucks with Heaney/Pham.
Pham’s 37 and put up negative value in 2024. He’s well below average in the field, For a team like the Pirates to pay him $4.025m is ridiculous.
Heaney was a decent signing—but Pham? And I like the guy. My three year old loved watching his at bats, calling him “Turtle Man” for the way he hunches at the shoulders in the batter’s box. But signing a 37 yo on his way out of the league as anything more than filler for the minimum, especially for a team with no budget, is just awful GM’ing.
I would much prefer to have Verdugo instead of Pham in Pittsburgh right now.
Chuck – I would much prefer the Red Sox kept Mookie instead of trading him for Dugie/Wong/Downs.
But Breslow may have saved the day by flipping Dugie for Fitts.
Tommy Pham is atleast always serviceable. Verdugo is alot more streaky I rather pay less and get 1 year out of pham then Pay more for Verdugo who might hit .280 or .220 and strike out a ton.
No.
No way. How could you say that!?!? Pham is a better fielder by leaps and bounds… and as far as last season, has a better bat.
iq – No offense but that is the worst take I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Since 2019 Dugie is SECOND BEST IN MLB with 31 DRS, behind only Yaz..
And Pham? FOURTH WORST IN MLB with -14 DRS (min 4,900 innings)
Why do you think Dugie has an 11.8 WAR compared to Pham’s 7 WAR. It’s not because of Dugie’s offense, that is for certain.
Fever – all-glove OFers do have a tendency to crater as they approach 30… not in every case obviously, but, more often than not…
GaSox – Yes a good portion end up losing a step, I agree.
Dugie’s rookie season was 2019, it wouldn’t be fair to use Pham’s pre-2019 stats.
As of right now and going back 6 years, Dugie has been the far superior OF’er when compared to Pham.
Even last year, Pham’s -10 DRS is pathetic compared to Dugie’s +7.
Pham is the OF defensive equivalent of Devers (figured you’d like that Haha!)
I’ve never seen a lefty batter hit that many ground balls right to the shortstop in one season. Verdugo’s uniform number should be 63.
You’ve been waiting to use that one for a long time. Well done.
Can not pull the ball,,so many fly Ball to left field
Let’s go Phils. Scoop this guy up for insurance.
Maybe if he hit right-handed… the Phils have no need for yet another LH hitting outfielder
Wasted too much on Max Kepler. The Phillies jumped the market and overpaid :shrug:
Phils aren’t going to get their money’s worth out of Herr Kepler. He’s a frustrating player with an odd demeanor who is hurt more than he is healthy.
It’s odd that a guy who is in his prime, has averaged 2 WAR for his career and is a solid defender and a left handed bat with some pop, can’t find a spot somewhere as a 4th outfuelder.
My guess is the asking price-owners want cheaper insurance guys it looks like
He is pretty bad offensively. He wasn’t even good or average in the heaven for lefty bats, Yankee Stadium.
Yankee stadium is better for lefty power hitters, which is why Soto thrived there. Verdugo is just a singles hitter usually, which doesn’t work out as well.
@ Jarred Kelenic’s Beer Can fair point, but he was still awful.
There is no value with the bat. 4th OF should be at league minimum not 4-8M per year. Verdugo is not a major leaguer IMO.
It isnt difficult for bad players to get to 2WAR just on defense alone if they get the playing time. Any team should be able to pluck a glove-only prospect from their farm if they need a 4th OF.
It doesn’t help that he had a lousy year and some of his underlying numbers were down, but he’s 28, not 37 and he was good in the field by Statcast.
Given that, there are only two likely explanations. One, he wants too much money, or two, he’s quietly picked up a bad rep whether warranted or not. When Gamel can find $1.2m and Pham $4.025m, nothing else makes sense.
Happens oh well shoulda played better hope his house is paid off.
Wrian – I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not paid off, lots of MLB players have mortgage payments.
Johnny Damon in 2009 was worried about not having the money for his mortgage payments when he lost a bunch in the Stanford Ponzi scheme.
2009 when he was making $13M annually for the 4th straight season.
13 HR as a LHH in Yankee stadium, and an OPS+ of 83 last year is not a profile that is going to get a lot of interest.
Every team has an outfielder in their system who can replace the value of Verdugo.
The White Sox definitely don’t. Then again, they’re not trying to win anything.
100%.
Enjoy Asia. I’m sure it will be a great life experience.
Only time will tell….
Maybe he has a thing for Asian girls. He’d be like a kid in candy store. Maybe even he’ll find out all he really wants is to be one of these Asian girls going to bed with him. We all have our Achilles heel.
Dirty!!!
Well options are minor league contracts or see if any of Mexican leagues teams are interested or Indy ball.. the guy doesn’t hit much for the price he wants..
mexican leagues pay nothing, he could probably make more in the atlantic league. he ought to take a minor league contract with incentives and opt outs and wait for an injury or under performance.
Or go to Japan and get paid a bit better.
I’ll take him for 5 million or less but I could also see A’s
Still should be on Astros
They probably want to see Dezenzo and Cam Smith fail before they take a look. The contract isn’t gonna be good, but it’s a job.
1 year 5 million from White Sox. Who says No?
White Sox.
JR’s check book. They can lose 110 games with or without him. Hell, they could easily lose 100 games with Soto and Judge.
No deal is surprising. I don’t think much of him as an everyday guy. He is a nice 4th outfielder. The hype was simply wrong, but he can make a living as a platooning 4th guy on an affordable contract.
Pretty similar to Kelenic, and he’s making $2.3M.
Plus Kelenic is 25, you can make the argument there’s still untapped potential in there. Verdugo is what he is at this point, and it’s not anything special.
Verdugo probably set his one-year price too high ($8.7M+) so an official offer never came.
He was solid early in the season and then went on a streak colder than a popsicle on an iceberg in Antarctica during January
This guy was the centerpiece in Mookie’s trade to Dodgers…….WELP.
I think the centrepiece in Mookie’s trade was Mookie Betts.
At least Connor Wong panned out in that deal for Boston, but it was still a major disappointment as Verdugo was average at best and Jeter Downs was a complete flop.
Mr. Mantooth, what happened to your profile picture?
Don’t forget Weissert was included in deal. Another great trade by Cashman.
And Richard Fitts too. We should see a lot of Fitts in 2025.
Anybody can read the OPS trend. Verdugo has been in a long steady slide from .844 in 2020 to .647 in 2024. He has minimal defensive and baserunning value. So his poor market is no surprise. Maybe somebody will pick him up for three or four million tops.
Apparently not. That ‘long’ slide includes the statistically insignificant differences bt 107, 101, and 98 fr 2021-2023 after his freak .371 BABIP in the short 2020 season.
Tigers could use another vet to cover their OF injuries. They’ve trotted Tork out there, at least we could add competence. (i know, another lefty bat..)
It might be surprising on the surface, but he’s a defense-first left fielder who supposedly has a bad attitude.
And doesn’t even play that good of defense.
Most journalists shy away from actually printing it, but this is clearly a case of no one wanting this guy because he has a long history of being club house cancer. Seems he might have gotten better control over himself last year in New York.
That’s what happens when ego is greater than effort.
If there ŵas a salary floor he’d be signed to a team
He might as well go play in Japan for a year and try to turn his market around for next year
Positive market correction for 4th OF type veterans. Couple to few mil max or go with youth. It’s a lot better than baseball retiring you.
Guess he thinks he’s entitled to a certain salary, or he’s a clubhouse headache.
Pretty good outfielder – he had a really bad blister issue on his hands this year that popped up around june- it definitely impacted his hitting. He was a doubles machine with Boston. I chalk last years production up to his hand issue. He’ll get picked up, eventually.
Fenway is a doubles stadium. Any lefty starting hitter should hit a minimum 25+ a year. A good hitter should hit 30 to 35 at minimum. Verdugo was fine, he just wasn’t consistent, and never really provided the power they hoped he would show to add another threat to opposing pitchers.
I thought his allergies to his own tattoos was part of the problem. Was it not or did it not get resolved?
nj.com/yankees/2024/08/yankees-alex-verdugos-hitti…
That was a fascinating article YBC, thnx for sharing. I have never heard of this nj.com before, looks like they have some good baseball stuff going on.
Randy Miller is one of the good ones covering the Yankees.
If he switched positions and took up pitching as long as he had an era under five he’d have a job in a heartbeat nowadays
Verdugo is a horrible hitter,,can not pull the ball to right field, can not hit 98 mph balls
Verdugo could probably use some more jewelry and tattoos.
nice to see people dont want garbage humans on their team these days.
Glad to see some fans still remember that incident involving him from 2015 that came to light in 2020.
Can you please define how he is a garbage human ?
Look into his involvement with a sexual assault case as a minor leaguer, you’ll find the answer there.
He’s worth a flyer, but probably on a low-base+incentive deal. He was just awful at the plate last year for the Yankees. Maybe he turns it around, or maybe he becomes a Joey Gallo and never figures out the plate again.
At least he can rest easy knowing he will always live on in mlb history 1) for being part of the Mookie trade and 2) as the final out of the World Series. Maybe now he can go make more memories in the Japanese, Korean, or Mexican leagues. Bye bye Alex, hope you find your dad.
Haven’t liked Verdugo since he was with the Dodgers. His cocky, me first attitude was on display from the start. Not surprising that he wants more than double what he’s worth. Time for him to get familiar with Asia Airlines.
For some reason that last at-bat in the World Series is embedded in my brain too lol.
I think the Rockies are going to sign him. Kind of like how they signed Profar 2 years ago out of nowhere
The Twins gave a paltry $1 mil to Ty France. Verdugo surely got offered a bit more??
I know there are player specific reasons why clubs haven’t made him a major league offer but with the cost of pitching and esp decent starting pitching inflating each year so quickly, seems like these $7-$10MM vets with some scratch and dent to them are the victims of limited budgets (At least the perceived amts that owners will foot the bill for outside of a few clubs like the Dodgers and Mets).
for the benefit these vets offer, teams seem to prefer to give their farm a shot or to take a chance on a cheap waiver wire quad A position player, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.
As a Royals fan, I think id rather have Verdugo than Melendez as a lefty platoon outfielder.
Less doubles and less hits last year. Kinda surprised he hasn’t been signed. There are a lot of worse outfield and DH options out there.
I’d lie to have him over Pham but dunno if I’d like him at 3m+ over Pham.
Some choices have no right answer.
Might as well fire the agent.
Verdure doesn’t have a job because of his work ethic and behavior. Even Cora called him out on it and still couldn’t figure it out. He can be a cancer and if he actually worked hard and learn the game instead of always counting on athletic ability he probably could have maybe moved to the next level as a player. Until he grows up no one will pay him except league minimum.
Ha ha ha! Love it!
future Tecolote de los Dos Laredos superstar
He’s holding out for that extra chain
The problem is you can hide lack of hustle, laziness, and an inability to want to listen to Managers/coaches on small market teams that no one pays attention to, it’s harder to that in Boston/New York
He’s been overrated his entire career. The infection stuff isn’t helping his marketability either this offseason.
Kunichiwa Bitches
Who are you calling Bitches?
The only difference between him and Soto is that they both have a very high opinion of themselves, however, baseball only agrees with Soto.
Him and the Franimal hitting 2nd and 3rd for some NPB team in 2025
Not keeping Siri and a hundred others from work. Has to be something else.
He’s actually not a super well liked guy…
The Sox got Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and a prospect for him so Breslow made at least one good trade.
You guys wanna hear a neat story about Alex Verdugo!?
I already know where this is going…
The market’s asleep on him because everyone’s overreacting to the recent slump. A sharp team could sign him cheap now, bet on him bouncing back to his old self in 2025, and get a steal—way more value than what they’d pay. It’s like buying a stock when it’s unfairly low: the data says he’s still good, but the crowd’s too stuck on the latest dip to notice.
Verdugo’s production doesn’t justify 8mil or putting up with his poor work ethic.
He should’ve taken the money. He needs a prove-it year. No one is paying him off of last year, and he shouldn’t be using 2024 as his platform year.
Surprised if his agent isn’t pursuing an e.g. NPB offer, if he can go put together a huge year overseas and turn that into a multi year deal as others have before him. Not everyone is cut out for it but could be a good opportunity
Tigers have OF injuries and a need.
Padres have big hole in LF.
Guys they signed don’t have Verdugo’s potential bounce back upside.
Guardians are always short a hitter or 2.
Has a great arm. Doogie Howitzer.