Alex Verdugo's latest quotes make it sound like he's already gone from Red Sox

One of the several elephants in the room when it comes to the Boston Red Sox is the future of Alex Verdugo with the organization. On one hand, he played pretty well for the club with a .264/.324/.421 slash line in 602 plate appearances this season. On the other hand, there have been constant whispers that the team could move on from him including no shortage of whispers at the trade deadline.

Complicating matters has been a seemingly strained relationship between Verdugo and manager Alex Cora including Cora calling him out after last season for lack of preparation and of course there was Verdugo's benching this season for not hustling in early August.

If Verdugo's most recent comments to The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey are any indication, it sure seems like his days as a member of the Red Sox could be numbered.

Verdugo speaks highly, but in very past tense about his time with the Red Sox

The good news is that Verdugo spoke very highly of the Red Sox as an organization when reflecting on the 2023 season and his time in Boston. The bad news is that his comments certainly don't come across as a guy that thinks he is going to be sticking around for next season when he shared the following when asked about his fate this offseason:

You just have to work hard… If it’s not this team, there’s 29 other teams.

Again, that doesn't sound like a guy that is trying to force his way out of town, but it does sound like it is coming from a player that doesn't think he will in Boston for the long haul.

Verdugo is a free agent after the 2024 season and depending on what the new Boston front office's plans are for next season, he could easily get shopped around and yield a significant return even for a guy in his last last year of arbitration. If the Red Sox decide to move on from him, that could tell fans a lot about the team's short-term plans.

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