Alex Cora Explains How Alex Verdugo Trade Aligns With Red Sox Goals

The Red Sox made a surprise deal with the Yankees on Tuesday, but it was part of the offseason plan Alex Cora and Craig Breslow have for Boston.

Alex Verdugo was traded to New York in exchange for Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice. It was only the eighth trade between the American League East rivals since 1969.

The Yankees could deal Verdugo to the San Diego Padres in a potential Juan Soto deal, and Boston likely won’t be done with offseason moves. But the emphasis for Breslow when he became Boston’s chief baseball officer was to improve the team’s pitching staff. It was a mindset Cora also bought in on.

“There’s a lot of conversations. We saw an opportunity to improve our pitching structure,” Cora said on “MLB Network Radio” on SiriusXM on Wednesday. “We got three good arms. We’re very happy with the return. Obviously, Alex is a complete player. We know he’s a good defender, a good hitter. He probably fits Yankee Stadium, but you cannot worry about the opposition. It’s about what is going to make you better as an organization, and we got three capable guys.

“As you guys know, where we’re at as an organization, we got a lot of good position players. The part where we need to get stronger is the pitching side of it with Craig and Andrew (Bailey). That’s the way we’re going to attack the offseason, keep getting better in that aspect. It also opens up the window for (Wilyer) Abreu, (Jarren) Duran or (Ceddanne) Rafaela to step up in spring training and try to win the job.”

Boston reportedly has its eye on other free-agent outfielders, but the Red Sox arguably are set at the position with Masataka Yoshida and Rob Refsnyder included with the other names Cora mentioned.

The Red Sox manager’s note about how there seemingly wasn’t much concern about trading a player to a division rival also seems to signal Boston is willing to do whatever it takes to improve its roster.