Red Sox announce The Agreement With Yankees Over The Signing Of The Veteran Was Successfully Reached
Though Yankees offseason acquisition Alex Verdugo came over from the Red Sox holding a “caution” sign, he’s seemed to fit in nicely so far at camp, fulfilling Aaron Judge’s long-time vision.
WEEI announcer Will Flemming, apparently, has different ideas, holding his very own Boston Tea-Spilling Party over the airwaves of Wednesday’s Yankees-Red Sox exhibition.
Verdugo wasn’t very popular during his final season in Boston, though he was the emotional leader of the 2021 Red Sox underdog ALCS team (and don’t let any Bostonians tell you differently). He repeatedly clashed with Alex Cora over … let’s say, punctuality, leading to some benchings and an airing of grievances in the media (which is, as everyone knows, the healthiest way to handle these kinds of things).
According to Flemming on the broadcast, there are “already some rumblings of a lot of the stuff that hurt [Verdugo] in Boston, showing up behind schedule for things.” If so, those rumblings have only become public because of … you, my man!
Yankees having maturity issues with Alex Verdugo? Red Sox announcer strikes back?
No one has mentioned this at all, meaning if it is true, the Yankees have done a very good job of handling things internally, and a Red Sox announcer just spitefully aired their dirty laundry, opening the door to questioning.
Could also be fake! Classic Boston, though. “Oooh, were you trying to keep that under wraps? Oooopsie! Sorry, I’m a lil’ stinker.”
There’s a possibility that Verdugo doesn’t fit in New York, either, a clubhouse that has traditionally been less willing than Boston to let stars be stars and operate on their own crazy schedules (Manny Being Manny, anyone?). Aaron Judge targeted Verdugo for a reason, though, and clearly believes he can keep the talented left-handed hitter in line.
Bottom line? Don’t let Will Flemming’s offhanded comment bring you down. There are important MRIs being exchanged at Yankees camp anyway. No need to give Verdugo a brain scan, too.
“The most important day is the 28th,” Judge told the New York Daily News on March 12 as he nurses an abdominal injury. “So we’re just kind of leading up to that. We’ve already got quite a few at-bats. We’ve got the Trajekt [pitching machine]. We got all the things we need here that kind of simulate some at-bats. So we’ll get some swings inside.”
Canadian robotics company Trajekt Sports is the creator of the Trajekt Arc, which can be programmed to replicate any MLB pitch such as a Gerrit Cole fastball, curveball from Clayton Kershaw, or slider from Edwin Diaz. The machine does this by digesting ball-tracking data captured by cameras in all MLB stadiums, to then replicate the spin rate, trajectory and velocity of whichever pitcher a hitter wants to prepare to hit against. Trajekt’s setup also has a screen projector to display real video footage of the selected pitcher’s delivery.
