I'm seeing lots of 'bad for baseball' bellyaching about the Betts trade. Apparently the Red Sox aren't allowed to trade a pending FA who's refusing to sign ahead of free agency unless he gets, like, $400M.
I feel like Verdugo is being improperly evaluated by the masses. It's 5 years of control of a guy who just put up 2.2 wins over less than 400 PA in his age-23 season, and projects at 3+ wins this year. I think he's objectively a more valuable asset than Mookie Betts. He's a plus baserunner, a borderline elite corner OF, and an easy plus hitter with exceptionally low K rates. It's pretty much just injuries that would prevent him from being at least an average player over the next 5 years, and there's 4-win upside there easily.