Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees Make Rare History with Trade

As the Boston Red Sox traded Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, they made some rare history.

When the Boston Red Sox traded outfielder Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, the two sides made some rare history.

Per Jeff Passan of ESPN:

News at ESPN, free and unlocked: The Yankees and Red Sox make only their seventh trade in the last half-century, with Alex Verdugo going to New York and right-handed pitching prospects Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice headed to the Red Sox.

News at ESPN, free and unlocked: The Yankees and Red Sox make only their seventh trade in the last half-century, with Alex Verdugo going to New York and right-handed pitching prospects Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice headed to the Red Sox. https://t.co/QhyRBjkIA3

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 6, 2023

This was just the seventh trade in the last 50 years between the last two sides - and the first with Major League players involved since 2021, when the Red Sox acquired Adam Ottavino from the Pinstripes.

The trade represents the first big move by new Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and is an extremely interesting one for Boston, who just helped clear a major logjam in the outfield. 

The team still has excess numbers out there with Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Rob Refsnyder and Masataka Yoshida, but if the team wants to move Yoshida to more of a DH role, there is a chance that Ceddanne Rafaela can find his way into a starting outfield role. 

Just Tuesday, manager Alex Cora had said he wasn't sure if Rafaela would be able to start the year at the major league level. Perhaps now he can.

Verdugo had been with the Red Sox since the 2020 season when he was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the package for star outfielder Mookie Betts.

Catcher Connor Wong is the only player acquired in that trade still with the Red Sox.

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