The clock is ticking on Alex Verdugo’s chances to land on a roster before Opening Day, but the ex-Yankee apparently isn’t that concerned.
“IN DUE TIME,” Verdugo captioned a highlight reel posted Saturday to Instagram that showcased mostly his highlights from his Yankees tenure, but also included shots of him with the Red Sox and Dodgers.
Opening Day — if you exclude the Cubs-Dodgers two-game stint in Tokyo — is a little more than three weeks away and Verdugo remains a free agent.
That the 28-year-old has yet to sign with a team likely boils down to a few factors.
Verudugo could be holding out for a better offer that he feels matches his self-perceived value, and it’s possible that teams just are not all that interested in a mediocre player.
Some teams may also view him as a reserve, while Verdugo still believes he’s a starting-caliber outfielder.
Once a top prospect, Verdugo owns just a career 101 OPS+ and posted a full-season-worst 83 OPS+ last year with the Yankees after being acquired in a trade with the Red Sox.
A 100 OPS+ is the league average, indicating Verdugo has barely been above average in his career offensively and is coming off a year in which he was 17 percent below the middle mark.
Verdugo slashed .233/.291/.356 with a full-season-worst .647 OPS last year, while adding 13 homers and 61 RBIs. And even those numbers come with a troubling caveat.
The outfielder owned a .757 OPS after homering in his return to Fenway Park on June 14, but then hit .205 with a .554 OPS the rest of the season.
He added four homers and 20 RBIs in his last 80 games.
The Yankees, though, kept giving Verdugo chance after chance, and he started all 14 postseason games, batting .208 (10-for-48) and striking out to end Game 5 of the World Series.
While his bat disappointed, Verdugo did provide above-average defense. Fangraphs credited him with a plus-seven defensive runs saved mark.
A reunion with the Yankees has not been in the cards since the Bronx Bombers signed Cody Bellinger and are going to give Jasson Dominguez starting reps in left field after opting for Verdugo last year.
Verdugo said at the end of the season that he hoped to be back.
“I know it wasn’t my best personal year on offense,” Verdugo said before the fateful Game 5.
“I think there would be [the possibility] that maybe one day we can come back —if it’s not next year, maybe it’s another yea. But I would like to come back and just show the type of player that I really am. I think we’ve seen it defensively, seen it at times offensively, but I’m usually a lot more consistent.”
It’s certainly possible that Verdugo could land with a team as spring training draws nearer and injures or underperformance force clubs to act.
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