Baseball is a business. Everyone knows this, yet it can be a difficult concept to grapple with. Far too often, fanbases feel betrayed by their teams’ front offices when a popular player is traded away.
Boston Red Sox fans are no strangers to this frustration. The last half-decade has seen the club lose a plethora of homegrown talent, including Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Christian Vazquez, among others.
Here are three more fan-favorite players who could be traded this winter.
Alex Verdugo
Verdugo has continued to be mentioned as a trade candidate ever since last July when the Red Sox explored deals surrounding the everyday outfielder. Nothing came to fruition, but the idea of a trade remains quite possible as we enter the winter months, especially with a new Chief Baseball Officer leading the front office.
We’ve already heard this offseason that three National League clubs could strike a deal for Verdugo, and he’s also been linked to the rival New York Yankees. The 27-year-old is an intriguing target for contenders after slashing .264/.324/.421 with 2.0 fWAR, a 7.5 percent walk rate, and a 15.4 percent strikeout rate.
Losing Verdugo, however, could create chaos within Red Sox Nation. While not entirely comparable, such a deal would loosely mirror the first winter of Chaim Bloom’s tenure when he sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers for a package that included Verdugo.
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