Toronto Blue Jays ace Alec Manuah is wide Known for its overall density on the mound, but not everyone loves his energetic motion, including Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo.
Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Mookie Animals, Verdugo has shared the AL East division with Manoah for nearly two years and appears to be making a stand against the 2022 All-Star after his incident last season.
The 26-year-old recently spoke out about Baseball is not boring The podcast alleged that the Blue Jays’ pitcher behaved disrespectfully after Francie Cordero pulled out Bobby Dalbec. Toronto won 4-1 last July. Thus, he does not believe that Manoah is playing the game the right way.
“If it’s a real reaction and it’s for boys and it’s not directed at someone, that’s okay,” Verdugo said. “Like I’m going to say now, I think Alec Manoah is doing it wrong, and I think he’s doing it 100 percent. You can find videos of him, footage of him at Triple-A going hitters like that. Last year he said to France and Bobby like come on Sit down, admire it, and look at them directly.”
“So that kind of pisses me off. That’s not the way you should play it. It should be played like you’re celebrating with your team, you don’t care about disrespecting another player – at the end of the day we’re just trying to compete, that’s all.”
Manoah received backlash from the Red Sox in that game after heated exchanges with Cordero and Dalbec, though the cooler heads prevailed. However, Verdugo still seems to be sticking with it several months later.
Manoah was asked about Verdugo’s comments ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Kansas City Royals and got a brief response.
“Coming from him?” Manoah told Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun. “My job is to promote players and get them out.”
Ramy Geese, 25, also made waves last August with pitch-by-pitch New York Yankees judge Aaron pushing Gerrit Cole to defend his teammate. While the judge remained calm, the five-star All-Star left the dugout to confront Manoah.
The Blue Jays player noted that Cole didn’t skip Odie’s ad on the field, but that didn’t stop Manoah from adding more to the fire after the game, adding to the still-strong competition going into 2023.
The Blue Jays and Yankees will meet for the first time this season in a three-game playoff in the Bronx later this month. If Toronto’s tough rotation remains the same, Manoah will start the middle game of this series.
Verdugo, meanwhile, won’t face the Blue Jays until May, when the two franchises kick off the month with a four-game series at Fenway Park.
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