Topic: Question for Red Sox fans: Alex Verdugo

[NoahYoung]

Really for metaldams (don't know if there are other Red Sox fans here):

I know Alex Verdugo wasn't a big hit in Boston. After a great start, he has stunk out Yankee Stadium since mid-June.

Regarding his stats in Boston - I can only see totals by year -- but were most of his "counting" numbers accumulated during 1 or 2 very hot stretches? He was on pace this year to get at least 80 RBI, now it looks like he'd be lucky to get 54 (which he got last year). His BA this year is way below his career BA. He's batting .157 in his last 30 games! He botched a fly ball in the last game before the all-star break that handed Baltimore a come-from-behind walk-off win. It had a catch probability of 99%. (And this was the play immediatley after Anthony Volpe botched a routine ground ball that would have ended the game with a Yankee win.)

[NoahYoung]

You want Verdugo back? We'll take 3 bats, 2 balls, a catcher's mitt, and a blank scorecard book.

[metaldams]

You want Verdugo back? We'll take 3 bats, 2 balls, a catcher's mitt, and a blank scorecard book.

He seems to hit the Red Sox well.  The rest of the league he has issues with.

[NoahYoung]

He seems to hit the Red Sox well.  The rest of the league he has issues with.

Well he had around 40 RBI in mid-June then stopped hitting. He has 7 RBI in the last 30 games!

Yes, he's hit the last 2 games against the Sox. Rumour has it that he might be gone by Tuesday's deadline. The Yankees just got Jazz Chisholm who could replace him in the outfield when he doesn't play infield.

[NoahYoung]

It figures. I trash the guy then he has a great series. Up until this past weekend, he couldn't buy a hit for over a month.

[NoahYoung]

Well he had around 40 RBI in mid-June then stopped hitting. He has 7 RBI in the last 30 games!

He's improving: 8 RBI in his last 30 games now! Also in last 30: .210/.279/.277
All 3 are less than his season so far: .235/.294/.366.

He has 53 RBI for season -- needs just 1 more to equal his total for last year!

In short, he stinks!

Since when does an outfielder who hits neither for power nor average stays in the major leagues???Certainly not when I first starting watching back in the 70s. He's a free agent at the end of the year. He'd be lucky to get a league-minimum contract for a year.  He's a one-tool player: fielding -- and to me he's barely average for an outfielder.

metaldams -- you want him back???

[NoahYoung]

He's getting worse, not better:

The Yankees haven't had a decent left fielder since Brett Gardner, and he wasn't exactly Rod Carew, either.

This prosciutto is batting .071 in his last 7 games.
.193 in his last 30 games.
He still only has 53 RBI -- he had about 40 in mid-June.

The majority of his last 13 RBI have been sac flies and ground-outs -- though I don't have the numbers to back that up.

And, oh yea, he's blaming it on his batting gloves.

I hope you are enjoying RHP Greg Weissert, RHP Richard Fitts and RHP Nicholas Judice.
 

[metaldams]

He's getting worse, not better:

The Yankees haven't had a decent left fielder since Brett Gardner, and he wasn't exactly Rod Carew, either.

This prosciutto is batting .071 in his last 7 games.
.193 in his last 30 games.
He still only has 53 RBI -- he had about 40 in mid-June.

The majority of his last 13 RBI have been sac flies and ground-outs -- though I don't have the numbers to back that up.

And, oh yea, he's blaming it on his batting gloves.

I hope you are enjoying RHP Greg Weissert, RHP Richard Fitts and RHP Nicholas Judice.
 

As bad as Verdugo has been this year, Weissert has given the Red Sox even less value and the other two have been in the minors.  Whatever value they’ll provide, if any, will be in the future.  So directly, there’s a chance, believe it or not, the Yanks may win the trade.  Too early to tell.

Indirectly, it’s good for The Red Sox as its addition by subtraction.  Getting rid of Verdugo has allowed Wilyer Abreu to get regular playing time and he has, by far, been better than Verdugo.

[NoahYoung]

Indirectly, it’s good for The Red Sox as its addition by subtraction.  Getting rid of Verdugo has allowed Wilyer Abreu to get regular playing time and he has, by far, been better than Verdugo.

A random guy picked off a softball field would be far better than Verdugo right now. And regardless of how they calculate WAR, he blew a game I mentioned above my missing a fly ball with a 99% catch rate. So -1 win right there. He sucks big time! https://youtu.be/A5MCFaS-Epw?si=naAh85_N9LDoN3UL&t=680

[NoahYoung]

So of course the guy hits a home run today!

[NoahYoung]

Now the Yankee announcers want us to throw the guy a parade because he got 2 hits today. One was a bloop hit where he hit it off the end of the bat, so the outfielder broke in too late to catch it.

[NoahYoung]

His level of being abysmal is historic:

https://yanksgoyard.com/posts/alex-verdugo-poised-to-make-bleak-career-history-with-yankees-collapse-01j5tzypg64s

    Here are the bottom 6 for OPS+ at age 28 after being 100-110 in their careers like Verdugo, who would join them as he's all the way down to 81 now

    81 Solly Hofman
    80 Marquis Grissom
    79 Lloyd Waner
    79 Alex Rios
    55 B.J. Upton
    46 Lee Magee https://t.co/2lbGp07XXA pic.twitter.com/8ainjVzcJn
    — James Smyth (@JamesSmyth621) August 21, 2024

[NoahYoung]

https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/alex-verdugo-stats-since-july-1st

He had 18 rbi from july 1st to end of the year -- 67 games. 16 rbi after the all-star break.
He is a free agent now -- don't everyone bid at once.

Ironically, he was one of the few Yankees who made a decent contribution in the World Series, including a home run. He didn't make an error in Game 5, either!

He was their regular left fielder and played in 149 games this year.
He had 61 RBI for the year, but was a non-entity once July hit.

[metaldams]

Verdugo was actually a clutch player on the Red Sox.  He actually has more walk off hits for The Red Sox this century than anybody not named David Ortiz.  Not surprised he performed decent in the World Series.

[NoahYoung]

Yes, but unfortunately few Yankees performed well. Judge made his only error of the entire season which cost the Yankees the 5th and final game.

Verdugo's a free agent now if you want him back.

[HomokHarcos]

I've been watching the Netflix Comeback series about the 2004 Red Sox that just came out on Netflix.

[NoahYoung]

2004 was an embarassment for the Yankees. To me, it hurts the legacy of Joe Torre, but I've never heard anyone mention it.

I'm not sure if I should watch it or not!

I thought the Yankees were gonna do it to the Dodgers, then they imploded in game 5. Once you win 2 games after being down 3-0, it starts to put a lot of pressure on the other side. I would rather that the Yankees had lost game 5 in a blowout than being up 5-0 mid-way through the game with their ace throwing a no-hitter.

In 2004, after losing game 4, I knew the Yankees would lose the series. I walked into the office the next day and told my colleagues that, and they thought I was crazy. When it finally happened, everyone said -- "Wow, you were right!" We were all Yankee fans.

Regarding Verdugo, my guess is he will get a one-year deal somewhere for a relatively low amount. He just can't hit. This isn't a change-of-scenery thing -- he got along well with his team mates and he loved playing for the Yankees.

[metaldams]

Joe Torre won four championships in five years and made two additional World Series.  As bad as 2004 was for him, I think his legacy is safe.

Some sad irony, though knowing the person who died, he probably would have found humor in it.  I was a Red Sox fan kid/teen in the 80’s and 90’s.  Had to hear about curses, 1918, Ruth, ghosts, being perennial losers, etc. ad nauseam.  The guy who was the absolute most obnoxious was a Yankee fan friend of my Dad’s.  Passes away of a heart attack the afternoon of October 20, 2004 - the afternoon before game 7.  Over his dead body indeed.

…and yes, THE COMEBACK documentary was indeed awesome.

[NoahYoung]

Well, the greatest collapse in the history of playoff baseball can't be ignored. Yankee fans wanted Torre fired back then -- and he never made it to another World Series after 2003. He made some blunders in the playoffs a few years later -- like not taking his players off the field when the mosquitoes attacked Joba Chamberlain on the mound in yet another playoff game they should have won.

I'm with many Yankee fans who can still feel the pain of 2004. That was the worst Yankees post-season loss in my life-time. 2nd worse would be losing to the Dodgers in the 1981 WS 4 - 2 after being up 2-0.

With 30 teams, an average team should make it to the WS once every 15 years. That was exactly how long it took for the Yankees to get to another WS until this year. So what do the Yankees do today -- the pick up the option on Boone's contract. And Brian Cashman is still the GM -- and has been since 1998!!!

And back to Verdugo -- I still can't fathom how such a poor hitter in a position that usually requires more offense over defense can remain an everyday player. I just don't get it. Although in fairness hitting is way down from several years ago, but when I was much younger, someone that bad on offense was usually the shortstop and batting 9th -- and often platooning with another shortstop who also sucked at hitting. Like Bucky Dent -- but we all know what he eventually did, lol!

[NoahYoung]

The fact that 20 years later they made a documentary about it proves what an epic fail it was. Sorry, Joe. It totally erased 1978 in my mind.

What a season 1978 was, though. And other than 2 (that I know of) highlights of the season shows, THE GREATEST COMEBACK EVER, and IT DON'T COME EASY, no other docs were made about it. And those 2 weren't really docs -- they were both made right after the 1978 season, and the latter one used to be shown a lot during Yankee rain delays. I remember renting the VHS tape of THE GREATEST COMEBACK EVER a few years later. They were both basically clips of of the season. I don't think there were any interviews made especially for it -- just interviews that had been made during the season for other purposes.

I'm probably preaching to the choir here -- but as a fan, the worst losses are the ones where you really think you have it wrapped up. The Red Sox in 1978 for the division win, and the Yankees in that dreadful 2004 ALCS.

They're kinda redundant -- they both start with the same Steinbrenner intro! One is narrated by Phil Rizzuto, the other by Bill White (partners on Yankee broadcasts on WPIX back then.)

Perhaps they were produced for different distibution? Like I said, one was only available to rent on VHS, the other was shown a lot on TV.