Sickening Yankees-Red Sox trade rumor surfaces and fans don't know what to think

We're still waiting to hear from bigger names in baseball media to confirm this -- no offense to the man who reported it -- but before New York Yankees fans absolutely freak out, they need a bit more validity.

As the Yankees went down quietly against the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader, Chris Henrique of Beyond The Monster revealed sources told him the rivals discussed what would've been a bombshell trade at this year's deadline.

His exact words were: "the Red Sox discussed sending outfielder Alex Verdugo to the Yankees for starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt at the trade deadline." OK, was it Chaim Bloom discussing it with himself? The Red Sox pondering if it was possible internally? Or was there a phone call with Brian Cashman in an attempt to hammer out the details of such a heinous trade?

If it was the latter, fire everybody. If it was the Red Sox wondering if they could get a controllable starting pitcher who's been progressing with each passing start for a middling outfielder who's nothing but a headache, then Bloom's dismissal on Thursday makes a whole lot more sense.

The Yankees still need a left fielder, but they definitely don't need one that badly. They also need more left-handed bats, but they're not desperate for one as underwhelming as Verdugo. And anybody with a brain knows almost any starting pitcher that won't become a free agent until after the 2028 season is more valuable than any outfielder with a career 107 OPS+.

Sickening Yankees-Red Sox trade rumor surfaces and fans don't know what to think

But the most glaring aspect of all is how despised Verdugo is among Yankees fans. So it's actually not surprising if the Yankees considered this since they have no pulse on the fan base whatsoever. Like we said, just fire everybody in both organizations and start from scratch.

Verdugo, an unspectacular player, manages to level up every time he faces New York, especially in big moments (outside of Tuesday, of course), and Yankees fans hate him for it. Somebody in Yankee Stadium went as far to chuck a baseball at him back in 2021 (though it was later determined that was a Met fan?). Either way, if you've sat in the left field or right field seats when the Red Sox were in town, you heard the verbal abuse directed toward the 27-year-old. Fans would've been enraged if he joined a hopeless 2023 squad.

Then there's the whole position thing. Though Verdugo can play left field, he's been a full-time right fielder in 2023, and there's absolutely no room for him on the roster to log reps there. It would've represented yet another situation in which the Yankees moved a player out of their comfortable defensive spot, only to see them suffer on both ends of the ball.

OK, rant over. We're going to say that this was probably never considered or entertained by the Yankees just so we can rest easy tonight.