New York Yankees trade RHP Greg Weissert, RHP Richard Fitts, and RHP Nicholas Judice to Boston Red Sox for OF Alex Verdugo.
This one probably won’t compare to the Babe. It feels like longer, but it was only a week ago that the Red Sox and Yankees consummated a swap for Verdugo, who was less a useful piece of Boston’s lineup the last few years—though he was that—than a constant reminder of how big the gulf is from useful starter to franchise player.
That might not be a ringing endorsement of the player the Yankees are receiving, but at the time of the trade (before picking up Juan Soto and Trent Grisham), Verdugo made for the second starter-quality outfielder on the roster. That again is damning with faint praise, but his presence was doing a consequential bit of work for the Yankees, which seems to be a recurring phenomenon among transaction analyses so far this offseason: taking playing time away from replacement-level players. To wit:
| Player | OF PA | Seasonal WARP |
| Oswaldo Cabrera | 246 | 0 |
| Isiah Kiner-Falefa | 235 | 0.8 |
| Jake Bauers | 165 | 0 |
| Billy McKinney | 140 | 0.6 |
| Franchy Cordero | 90 | 0.1 |
| Estevan Florial | 68 | 0 |
| Willie Calhoun | 37 | 0.2 |
| Total | 981 | 1.7 |
| Alex Verdugo | 602 | 3.2 |
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