The Boston Red Sox have had a 2023 Major League Baseball season reminiscent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
When the team took the field for any given game, no one knew which team would show up. The team that was brilliant in the field and made opposing pitchers pay for mistakes they threw or the team that couldn’t make routine defensive plays and the offense go silent.
Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo told reporters following Thursday night’s 8-5 loss to the New York Yankees just how disappointing the season Boston had was.
“It’s pretty frustrating. At the end of the day, I kind of feel like it’s like a bipolar season,” Verdugo said. “Like when it was good, it was really, really good. And then when it was bad, it was really, really bad.”
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Even though Boston finds itself tied for fourth place in the American League East with the Yankees at 74-73 with only 15 games remaining in the season. Verdugo said there is some upside, at least in the clubhouse.
“I think the good thing is as a team the guys really like each other,” Verdugo explained. “The chemistry in the clubhouse is, that we’re really about each other and we want to win and push each other to be the best. So that part of it is good.”
The 27-year-old acknowledged that while he was part of the trade that saw now-former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom send Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he never felt he needed to live up to certain standards.
“I came over in the big trade and I always want to play good,” Verdugo said. “It’s not live up to the trade. It’s not to live up to certain expectations. It’s just me, personally, the person I am inside, I want to play good and I want to perform and help my team win.
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“… Obviously, you don’t ever want to be a reason of why somebody loses their job,” Verdugo added. “But at the same time, you understand that if you’re not producing, you’re not winning, you’re not seeing October baseball — a change needs to be met.”