Alex Verdugo meets with New York media, takes a shot at former skipper Alex Cora
Former Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo met with the New York media on Thursday, 16 days after he was traded to the Yankees.
Verdugo told reporters he initially was angered by the trade when he first heard the news.
“The genuine reaction was, you know, mad. I was hot,” said Verdugo in a Zoom call with New York media. “I was like, ‘Man, they really sent me to the rivals, the Yankees,’ this, that. Then after about a day, I started sitting back, thinking, just reminiscing about how this year went with the Red Sox, kind of everything that was going on.
“Then I started thinking (about) having guys reach out: (Aaron) Judge, (Giancarlo) Stanton, Gerrit (Cole), then (Anthony) Rizzo. These guys all started reaching out and just welcoming me to the team. It just got me excited. I shaved right away, just so I could feel like I’m in it. I work out every day with a Yankee hat, to see how it looks on me, how it feels. Like I said before, fresh start and it feels good.
“I just want to go to the organization. I just want to work hard and I want to prove, maybe, a lot of ‘he said, she said’ things wrong. I want to just show them, we’re all people, man, we’re all human. Yeah, we make mistakes. But how do we learn from them and bounce back from them and how much stronger do we get from that. I’m excited for this new fresh start. I want to win the World Series, but obviously, we’ve got to take it day-by-day.”
Verdugo also expressed his excitement to play for Yankees manager Aaron Boone, while also taking shots at Alex Cora in the process.
“I’m very excited to work with Aaron,’' Verdugo said. “I’ve seen the way he has his players’ backs. The one that really (sticks) out to me is (the famous video of Boone arguing the strike zone in defense of his players) ‘These guys are savages!’ He’s yelling at the umpire. That’s something I want to see out of my head coach (sic), man. I want to see some fire, some fight for the guys. Instead of airing people out, have their backs.
“I’m really excited for this fresh start and to kind of get with the guys and really just change the narrative, man — go out there work hard, play hard and just have fun. And that’s the biggest thing.”
Verdugo and Cora failed to see eye-to-eye towards the end of his tenure with the Red Sox. Cora benched Verdugo twice last season, once for failing to run the bases hard and the other for showing up late to the game.
Now on the other side of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry Verdugo is excited to close the chapter on Boston and focus on his fresh start in the Bronx.
“You feed into it,” he said. “As I was with the Red Sox, you really take it to heart. I feel like it’s a little bit of a switch-up, but I’m very excited to bring that same energy toward the Red Sox now. The mindset in New York — how people talk, they’re a little more aggressive and straight to the point. I like that, man. I enjoy it. And I think when they see me play every day and they see me bust my butt and work hard, I think they’ll like what they see.”
Verdugo is also ready to embrace the Yankees fan base and hopes they will have his back now that he will be wearing pinstripes.
“I really don’t care about the tough crowd, the people talking smack like that,” he said. “I feed off of it. I like when people talk. At the end of the day, you want your fan base to have your back. You want them to support you. That means a lot and I do appreciate it. So far, from being with the Dodgers and being with the Red Sox, the fan bases have really been behind my back and made it super fun.
“I know it’s going to be a little weird for some people, but hopefully some of the highlights can happen with the Yankees and you kind of start winning over the crowd.”
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