Blue Jays: Red Sox outfielder rips Alek Manoah for "disrespectful" on-field behavior

In a still-developing story, Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo has taken to the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast on Audacy to lay into Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah about some of his on-field behaviors from last season.

Verdugo, who has been known to be arrogant and disrespectful towards the opposition during his career, has a lot to say about someone else doing what he has been doing for years. Not to mention, some shady allegations that came up against his own name a while back that has somehow been swept under the rug during his days in Boston.

Verdugo, 26, had the following to say about Manoah on the podcast.

If it's a genuine reaction and it's for the boys, not directed towards somebody, then yeah it's fine. Like, I'll say right now, I think Alek Manoah goes about it the wrong way, 100 percent I think he does. You can find videos of him, footage of him in Triple-A going like this to hitters. Last year, telling Franchy [Cordero] and Bobby [Dalbec] to go sit down, s--t like that and looking right at them. So it's s--t like that that just pisses me off. It's not the way it should be played. It should be played like you're celebrating with your team, you're not f-----g disrespecting another player who is - at the end of the day, we're just trying to compete, that's it.

That's a loaded quote. Now, I don't think Verdugo is completely off base with some of these comments. Yes, Manoah has indeed been a bit over-aggressive over the years. Some may call that passion, some may call that disrespect, it's all a matter of opinion. What makes this interesting is that Verdugo is the one dishing out these comments, it's awfully rich coming from him.

For reference, these are the two instances Verdugo is referring to.

This is coming from the player who shows off his grill and his chain while aggressively showboating his own hits and/or runs scored, fights with fans, has past assault allegations and even went as far as to trash talk his former team (the Dodgers) for no real reason after they won the World Series in the 2020 COVID-shortened season. One writer in the industry says of Verudgo, "he's always been a punk bordering on something worse".

Through and through, this just reeks of hating Manoah because he's on the other team. If he was on the Red Sox, this behavior would get two thumbs up.

Fans will also note that this is also not the first time Verdugo has chased after an AL East ace, as he called out Gerrit Cole for "whining about the strike zone" in a game in September of last season.

Sure, the Blue Jays are off to a slow start, but the Red Sox are the "favorites" to land in last place in the division during the 2023 regular season. Perhaps Verdugo should try his hand at helping the Red Sox avoid last place instead of instigating with division rivals (again).