The Boston Red Sox could be in store for an explosive offseason, and they made their first big move of the Craig Breslow era on Tuesday night. After replacing the penny-pinching Chaim Bloom, Breslow has been given the power to do whatever he wants to this team, and that started with trading Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees in exchange for three pitchers in Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, and Nicholas Judice.

Trading Verdugo seemed like something that needed to happen for the Sox this offseason. While Verdugo is a solid player, his attitude seemed to be off all season long, resulting in him curiously sitting days out with no real explanation from himself or manager Alex Cora. The Red Sox have enough outfield help where they can absorb his loss, so it's not exactly the end of the world that they have moved on from him.

But to trade him to the Yankees? Talk about a gutsy first more from Breslow. Anytime the Red Sox and Yankees make a deal, it's enough to catch the attention of baseball fans everywhere, but a trade for Verdugo was certainly unexpected. However, it was clear this was a deal Boston had to make, and it's an encouraging start to Breslow's tenure in the Red Sox front office.

The Red Sox needed to part ways with Alex Verdugo

Alex Verdugo, Boston Red Sox

On paper, Verdugo profiles as a steady contact-hitting outfielder who can hold his own in a corner outfield spot defensively. Verdugo's numbers in 2023 aren't bad, but they aren't exactly impressive either (.264 BA, 13 HR, 54 RBI, .745 OPS). After being picked up as the main piece in return for Mookie Betts, the Red Sox were hoping Verdugo could become a .300 hitter who could smack 20 homers a season. To this point, he's been unable to do either of those things.

Moving Verdugo may seem like a deal Boston couldn't make, but they still have a lot of quality depth in the outfield that they can lean on in the wake of this trade. Masataka Yoshida isn't great defensively, but he can play in left field, Jarren Duran finally broke out last season, and Rob Refsnyder has been a more consistent player than Verdugo during his time with the Sox. Chances are another bench guy will be brought in to shore up this spot in free agency or via another trade.

While Verdugo's play on the field waned, he was ruffling feathers behind the scenes as well. This started late in the 2022 season, and the hope was that he would turn things around in 2023. While he had his moments, Verdugo completely faded during the second half of the year, and seemed totally uninterested in helping Boston figure things out.

There's no doubt that moving on from Verdugo was the right move. Sure, he had his moments with the team, but they were far too fleeting, and even at his best, his performance often left a lot to be desired. There's a chance he could reach his full potential elsewhere, but he had run out of time to make his mark for Boston.

The return for Verdugo doesn't jump off the page, but Boston needs pitching desperately, and that's what they get here. Fitts had a strong season at Double-A in 2023 (11-5, 3.48 ERA, 163 K, 1.14 WHIP), Weissert posted a 4.05 ERA over 20 major-league innings last year, and Judice, at 6'8, 230 pounds, has a lot of untapped potential that Boston will be looking to unearth.

It's not fantastic, but Weissert and Fitts could conceivably both play big roles in Boston's pitching staff this season. And realistically, the need for pitching is more pressing than the need for Verdugo right now. It's tough for the Red Sox to cut their losses on Verdugo, but it was a move that needed to be made, and that's a credit to Breslow.

There have been some questions regarding Breslow and whether he was the right guy to replace Bloom, but this is an encouraging first move for him to make. In a similar way that Brad Stevens has gone out and made moves that the Boston Celtics needed to make, Breslow identified pretty quickly that this team needs pitching, and he picked out Verdugo as the guy who could net him what he wanted.

Sending Alex Verdugo to the Yankees, the Red Sox longstanding rival, is risky, as they will face New York quite a bit every season, and there's a chance he could come back and haunt Boston if he plays at a high level for them moving forward. But it was a risk worth taking, and the fact that Breslow was willing to take a risk is quite refreshing after enduring Bloom's timid management for the past few years. With this move in the books, it will be interesting to see what else Breslow has in store throughout his first offseason in charge.