Yankees Castoff May Be Casualty of Banned Braves $42 Million Star’s Return

Following a difficult season with the New York Yankees last year, outfielder Alex Verdugo — now most vividly remembered by Yankees fans for striking out to end the World Series — tested free agency for the first time.

It didn’t go well.

Verdugo reportedly received no offers from any team until only a week before the start of the regular season. That’s when he heard from the Atlanta Braves who — after the Yankees paid him $9.2 million, and the Red Sox $6.3 million the year before that — handed Verdugo a $1.5 million offer.

It was a minor league deal. Take it or leave it — and Verdugo took it.

Though with more than five years of major league service he had the right to refuse, Verdugo chose to start the season at the Triple-A level, his first return to the minors since being named the Los Angeles Dodgers’ No. 1 overall prospect in 2019.

After 2019, Verdugo was included in the trade that brought former American League MVP Mookie Betts to Los Angeles, and the 2015 second-round Dodgers draft pick was a big leaguer ever since.

Until this season.

But Verdugo caught what for him became a lucky break, though for the Braves, not so much. Just four games into the season, the Braves’ major offseason free agent signing, former San Diego Padres All-Star Jurickson Profar, was hit with an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use.

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Verdugo was called up and played his first Braves game on April 18. But his season soon went south, statistically. And now, with the Braves set to play their 85th game on Wednesday, Profar is eligible to make his comeback.

The 32-year-old who won a Silver Slugger award last year has played the last two weeks on a minor league rehab assignment. The Curacao native is expected to resume his place in the Braves starting lineup against the Los Angeles Angels.

The Braves signed Profar for $42 million over three years, so it seems unlikely that they would prefer to continue playing Verdugo, who, “unfortunately, doesn’t fit into any meaningful role off the bench – not even as a veteran pinch hitter,” according to Lindsay Crosby of the Braves Today newsletter.

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“Today’s the day — the Atlanta Braves need to cut ties with the former Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees outfielder,” Crosby wrote on Wednesday.

Per Statcast figures, Crosby notes, Verdugo has been the lowest-rated outfielder on the Braves “at -5 Fielding Run Value and -5 Outs Above Average,” adding that Verdugo, defensively, “doesn’t do anything well.”

He also serves no purpose even as a lefty pinch hitter off the bench, according to Crosby, who notes that in the role, Verdugo has “struck out twice as much as he’s walked, 10 strikeouts to five walks. And this season — granted, in a small sample size — he’s been a disaster when called upon late: 1-for-7 with two strikeouts.”

So will the return of Profar spell the end for Verdugo? Crosby says it should.

“If Verdugo isn’t offering defense, speed, or recent offensive production, what exactly is the value in keeping him around?” the Braves Today writer asks.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, however, the Braves had not announced a corresponding roster move to allow the expected return of Profar.

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