Alex Verdugo poised to make bleak career history with Yankees collapse

Perhaps the Boston Red Sox begging the Yankees (or anyone else) to acquire Alex Verdugo should've been a red flag. Either that, or his repeated benchings in 2023 based on his tardiness, jogging and general behavior.

The Yankees typically saw the best of Verdugo in Boston. Though fans in New York heard tell of infuriating second-half collapses, they could at least lean on the reality that he was a career .265 hitter against their team, as well as a better performer in both high- and medium-leverage at-bats than low-leverage ones over the course of his career (.730/.816 OPS vs. a low-leverage .683 mark).

At the very worst, it seemed like the Yankees had acquired a league-average bat with the propensity for rising to the occasion -- and, if he happened to collapse down the stretch, well ... that's what Jasson Dominguez was for.

Unfortunately, Verdugo has not only regressed as a Yankee (especially in the wake of his boastful home run in his return to Fenway), but he's done so at a level that's nearly historically unprecedented for a 28-year-old.

The Yankees have gone from 50-22 on the day he rubbed his home run in Alex Cora's face to 73-53, and Verdugo's catastrophic spiral has contributed to that depressive summer. An 81 OPS+, after making a career out of falling in line with the league's averages, would make Verdugo's downfall tied for the sixth-worst on record at his age and position, according to the YES Network's James Smyth.

Yankees' Alex Verdugo undergoing one of history's worst personal collapses for a 28-year-old outfielder

Other than historic ineptitude during a stretch run, though, nothing much to see here.

Dominguez, viewed as the panacea for an extended Verdugo slump, hasn't shaken enough of the rust off himself after successive injuries (last September, this summer). He'll be up Sept. 1, in all likelihood, but how much he's used (and how much that turns off Verdugo, as a result) has yet to be determined.

At least there's one team Verdugo can still crush! As if anyone was still doubting that there might be a motivation issue at play here...

Good news: the Yankees still get the Red Sox for four games at home in mid-September.

Bad news: those series are typically torturous, the Yankees have been worse at home than on the road this year, and Verdugo might be benched in favor of Jasson Dominguez by then.

All in all ... neat! This experiment can end anytime. Really. We're fine.