Eternal rivals, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox both had a surprisingly terrible 2023. For the first time since 1993, neither the Bronx Bombers nor the BoSox were present in the postseason. While the Yankees barely managed to cling to their winning record by a final tally of 82-80, their rival wasn’t so lucky. The Red Sox ended their season with a 78-84 tally at the bottom of the AL East. To rebuild, the clubs have strangely found options in each other.

While the Boston Red Sox want the Yankees’ shortstop/second baseman Gleyber Torres, the Yankees are interested in their outfielder Alex Verdugo. So how do these players fit in these teams and how was their performance in 2023? If this trade does take place, who will gain more from it? Why are the rivals interested in trading these players?

Alex Verdugo vs Gleyber Torres – why they surprisingly suit the other team

The Bronx Bombers suffered terribly because of a lack of depth in the roster. GM Brian Cashman has made it clear that the team needs two lefty outfielders, especially after the young rookie Jasson Domínguez had to go through Tommy John surgery. While they’re linked with quite a few left-handers like Juan Soto and Cody Bellinger, they may have found someone with the Red Sox.

Alex Verdugo, the lefty outfielder from Beantown perfectly suits the Yankees system. One of the chief problems of the Pinstripes was their hitting, ranking 29th in total hits last season. Across the board, the team’s hitting was not consistent, which is where Verdugo can be of help.

With a career average of .281, Dugie is a consistent hitter. Though in 2023 he had a down year with his average going down to .264, yet surprisingly even that number is higher than all but two of the Yankees last year. Only Aaron Judge (.267) and Gleyber Torres (.273) had a better average than him. But why would the Red Sox trade Verdugo if he’s so suitable? Well! Because their need for Gleyber Torres is just as urgent.

The Boston Red Sox have cycled through a series of second basemen without finding a lasting solution. Dustin Pedroia was their last consistent player in that position before injuries derailed his career. After that, the BoSox have gone through half a dozen players with varying levels of success. In Gleyber Torres they’ve found a player with proven pedigree in that position.

The one weakness in the Red Sox’s batting lineup has been the shortage of home runs. Although players like Rafael Devers and Triston Dasas did hit more than 20 Home runs with Devers going to 33, apart from them the distribution is rather flat. Torres had 25 long balls in 2023, which would already make him the second-highest home run hitter in the Red Sox.

But who will get the best benefit from this trade? The Pinstripes or the Red Sox?

New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox – winner of this trade

So which team will get the better deal? To know this one needs to understand where both of them are in their cycle. An even more interesting point is the fact that both of their needs are so different from each other. The downfall of the New York Yankees in 2023 came due to their horrendous batting and unexpected underperformance. Though they have the AL home run record holder Aaron Judge with them apart from him and Torres the entire batting lineup experienced a profound collapse.

This is not a new issue, even in 2022 when the team recorded 99 wins, the Pinstripes’ batting average ranked only 15th in MLB. Their strength lies in their pitching, or it’s supposed to, so adding a proven hitter to their squad surely helps in covering the gaps while also giving them the necessary depth in the outfield.

In the case of the Boston Red Sox, their hitting is already excellent. They were near the top in every hitting metric in 2023, adding Torres would be a good defensive cover in the second base but overall in batting, he’s pretty much a surplus addition to an already strong lineup. The real weakness of the BoSox is their pitching. Their bullpen was the reason for their failings last year.

This trade does nothing to improve that aspect of their game but the one positive is that Verdugo will enter free agency in 2024, so they’d be getting something for him before that. This is smart business but then we look at Torres and realize even he’s to enter free agency just one year later in 2025.

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All in all currently at least, Torres might be a better hitter than Verdugo but Verdugo fulfills a desperate need of the Yankees. But as has been seen many times, things often change. Destiny has its own plan. Still, both the Yankee Nation and the Red Sox Nation would hope that this trade results in their teams being nearer to the top than to the bottom in 2024.

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