Yankees fans vindicated as heinous Alex Verdugo slump has Braves fans melting down

When the New York Yankees acquired Alex Verdugo via trade from the Boston Red Sox prior to the 2024 season, fans knew it was either going to be inconsequential or would blow up in their face. It was the latter.

Verdugo ended up being one of the worst qualified hitters in the league and then departed in the offseason. The Red Sox knew what they were doing when the offloaded a problematic asset on their rivals.

Verdugo hung around in free agency for a long time and then signed a minor league deal with the Braves as they endured some injuries and depth issues with their outfield. He couldn't even get a major league job. By the way, Anthony Rizzo is still unemployed. The Yankees started those two guys throughout an entire World Series run.

In typical fashion, Verdugo's introduction to Atlanta was ... successful. He was a spark at the top of their lineup and helped make up for various voids, hitting .322 with an .825 OPS through his first 14 games. But he's absolutely cratered since, and Braves fans (and media members) are in shambles over manager Brian Snitker continuing to give him opportunities.

Welcome. Now you know how Yankees fans felt with Aaron Boone trotting Verdugo out there in the middle of heinous slumps while Jasson Dominguez remained blocked for no good reason.

Though Verdugo with 2-for-3 with a walk during Friday night's win against the Colorado Rockies, it's hard to believe the opinion among Braves fans will shift. Atlanta knocked around one of the worst bullpens in the league — that's hardly an accomplishment.

The bigger story is that the Braves are 30-38 on the year and 12-17 ever since Verdugo's slide began. It'd be irresponsible to pin the blame solely on him because one player's production hardly affects team output to that degree, but fan frustration rightfully boils over when someone is struggling this badly and the manager isn't responding with intent.

Much like Yankees fans, who have gotten frustrated by Brian Cashman's (at times) unnecessarily "cute" transactions, the same anger is being directed at Alex Anthopoulos by Braves fans. The jig is up in Atlanta. Their donations to the Braves Foundation are no longer paying the dividends they used to. This team has wildly underachieved since their 2021 World Series run, and some of that has to do with Anthopoulos continuing to think smaller moves will make a big impact.

But we're here for ya, Braves fans. There are few worse experiences than Verdugo being a black hole in your lineup. It derailed a World Series season for us. At least you guys won't have something of that magnitude upended by the veteran.