BOSTON — Alex Cora and Alex Verdugo spent some time catching up behind the batting cage Friday night before the Red Sox and Yankees faced each other for the first time in 2024. So the two men, who spent the last three seasons together in Boston, have stayed in touch, right?
“No,” Cora said emphatically.
It’s clear there’s still some frost between the manager and the player who challenged him perhaps more than any other he has had in six seasons in the dugout, even six months after the winter trade that sent Verdugo to the Yankees for three pitchers. But both men, who reunited shortly before Verdugo got instant revenge on his old team by hitting a rocket two-run home run on the first pitch he saw from Brayan Bello, claimed the narrative that there’s tension is overblown.
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“I’m a little tired of talking about A.C. and talking about the Red Sox because of the way it ended,” said Verdugo, who was not as candid as usual as a Yankees PR official stood nearby during a quick, timed media session outside the visitors clubhouse. “We’re still friends. Media and people want to blow it up however they want to blow it up but it was a simple thing that two men didn’t agree on something and bumped heads. We’re still men and and we kinda reconciled when we talked to each other. I don’t want the media to keep putting it out that we don’t have this friendship.
“We’re fine. We’re good. Our families like each other, our kids like each other. I think, off the field, we have no problems at all. There were just a couple minor things we bumped heads on and that’s fine. Not everybody is gonna always agree with things. I’ve got nothing but respect for A.C. and hope him the best as a manager, as a father, as a person outside of baseball and wherever life takes him.”
Cora, who privately stumped for a Verdugo trade in conversations with the front office dating back to last summer and spoke diplomatically about the outfielder after the trade, concurred.
“Dugie’s a good kid, man,” Cora said. “I think people are making too much of nothing, to be honest. He’s a good player. He got traded and we got three good pitchers. That’s the business of it. Like I’ve said before, he’s gonna be a good defender, he’s gonna hit. The only thing he was missing toward the end here was hitting against lefties and he’s doing OK. He has been very consistent in left field and he’s playing well for them. We knew that. We knew he’s a good player and he’s going to help them win games.”
Red Sox people had questioned Verdugo’s preparation and unique pregame routine even before Cora issued a public challenge to Verdugo to improve every aspect of his game at the end of the 2022 season. The manager benched Verdugo twice last year — first on June 8 after he didn’t hustle to Cora’s liking during a game in Cleveland and again when Cora pulled him from the lineup hours before first pitch for a late arrival on Aug. 5 — and it was clear to everyone by the end of the year that the marriage between team and player had run its course. Cora said Friday that there were instances even before the two public ones last year that caused the pair to butt heads. He also said Verdugo was a well-liked teammate during his time with the Red Sox.
“We have a good relationship,” Cora said. “It just happened that last year, it became public. I don’t understand what the big deal is. We aren’t here to criticize players or celebrate players when they don’t show up on time or show up on time. It just happened that day, I felt he was late and I took him out of the lineup. I think that’s a big deal here but it should not be that big of a deal.”
In a conversation with MassLive last weekend at Yankee Stadium, Verdugo admitted that the upcoming series at Fenway would be “very personal” while reiterating that there were no hard feelings when it came to Cora. The Yankees have been happy to reap the benefits of a strong start on both sides of the ball while the Red Sox have enjoyed a good showing from reliever Greg Weissert and hope minor leaguers Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice contribute down the road.
“We got three good pitchers and we had some good players in the outfield,” Cora said. “Where we were as an organization, we were trying to maximize his value and I think we killed it … It opened the door for us to play other guys. We have T.O., Jarren, Abreu and Rafaela. Where we were roster-wise and the plan going into the season, it was the right time.
“Dugie’s an excellent player. But we took another path, got three good pitchers and both organizations have won in this trade.”
