Padres Sign Former Yankees & Red Sox Outfielder

He's spent most of his career in the big time, with the marquee teams the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. But now, the former .300-hitting outfielder Alex Verdugo is heading to the relatively quieter destination of the San Diego Padres.

Padres sign Alex Verdugo to a minor-league deal pic.twitter.com/lYk8tDywZv
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 1, 2026

Verdugo gets a minor league deal for the Pads to bolster their outfield depth. He will report to the team's minor league camp as they don't have room on the roster for another outfielder at the moment.

In addition, after his performance in 2025, in which he batted .239 with a .585 OPS in 56 games with Atlanta before being released in July, he'll need to prove he can hit once again to get a call to the Show. Verdugo his .308 with the Red Sox in 2020.

Verdugo, 30, was one of the pieces coming back to Boston in the blockbuster Mookie Betts trade to L.A. prior to the 2020 season. In a rare Red Sox/Yankees trade, he was sent to the Bronx four years later, and played a key role in the Yankees' run into the World Series (where they lost to his former team, the Dodgers). He drove in eight runs in 14 postseason games that year, though he hit just .208.

Verdugo has a .270/.326/.406 slash line for his nine-year career with a .732 OPS, and pretty much at the league average with a 99 OPS+.