The Mexican-American player left Boston with controversy

 

Alex Verdugo, now with the New York Yankees after being acquired from the Red Sox, insists he has no hard feelings toward Boston manager Alex Cora after twice being benched last year.

Verdugo, a left-handed-hitting corner outfielder, played for Cora for three seasons before a rare trade between the AL East rivals in December.

“It’s one of those things that, it’s a little bit weird, because outside of the game, he was great. Even as a manager, he’s a good manager,” Verdugo said Thursday from the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa, Florida.

“In certain ways, ‘AC’ was hard on me, but I don’t have any hard feelings toward him. It’s one of those things. Toward the end, we kind of ran our course out a little bit,” Verdugo said. “But as a person and outside of baseball, I loved him. I loved his kids, his family.”

Verdugo was first benched by Cora on June 8 for not hustling between first and second base on a grounder a night earlier, and again Aug. 5 for arriving late at the ballpark.

Verdugo’s story of trades

The Boston Red Sox agreed with their rivals, the New York Yankees, to trade Alex Verdugo in exchange for pitchers Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, and Nicholas Judice back in December of last year.

During the 2023 season, Verdugo hit .264 with 13 home runs, 54 RBIs and a .745 OPS in his fourth year with Boston. He was a Golden Glove finalist, had 12 assists from the outfield and had +9 DRS.

Verdugo came to Boston as part of the trade for Mookie Betts in 2020, then one of the top prospects in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system.