It was Chaim Bloom's job to find the best possible deal for some of his expiring contracts around the trade deadline. Bloom shopped Alex Verdugo, along with many others, but failed to pull the trigger. One of the teams Boston discussed a Verdugo trade with was the New York Yankees.
There are two issues with this. First, Verdugo represents more to Boston fans than just a player. He was acquired in the Mookie Betts trade and is a piece of the Red Sox future, if they desire. Second, Verdugo is signed through 2024, technically, as he has one final arbitration year.
Trading Verdugo to the New York Yankees, of all teams, would be an unforgivable offense
MLB Rumors: Did Chaim Bloom really consider trading Red Sox fan favorite Alex Verdugo to the Yankees?
Trading Verdugo to New York would have been disastrous for a few reasons. First, the Yankees were never going to make the postseason and were in a similar position to Boston at the deadline. Essentially getting worse would not have helped Bloom's reputation in the eyes of Red Sox fans.
Verdugo still has a year left on his contract, so his value was high at the time of this trade proposal. Clarke Schmidt, a starting pitcher, would have helped Boston's struggling rotation. However, Schmidt has been far from elite this season, with an ERA over five at this point in the year. Frankly, this proposal would not have reflected well on Bloom.
Verdugo is slashing .276/.336/.445 with 13 home runs on the season. He's been one of the Red Sox better hitters so far this year. It would have been a travesty for Boston to trade him at all, let alone to a team like the Yankees.
We can point to the obvious flaws of the Yankees trying to add at the deadline all day, but Bloom hoping to deal Verdugo to a rival is...something.
