The New York Yankees have a vacancy at second base with Gleyber Torres on the free agency market. Torres, a two-time All-Star, has been an excellent player for the Yankees and an even better person off the field. Regarded as a fan favorite, it’d be tough to watch the slugger go.
However, it’s the reality of the situation, as Torres’ money could help the Yankees re-sign Juan Soto and make other moves.
Mike Axisa of CBS Sports expects that to be the case, predicting that the Yankees will cut ties with him this winter and that he’ll sign with the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Will Wagner had a nice run late in the season, though it probably wasn’t enough to convince the Blue Jays he is The Guy going forward (plus he had knee surgery in September). Besides, Wagner has third base experience, and last I checked the Blue Jays have a potted plant penciled in at the hot corner. Torres turns only 28 in December and he finished the season very well, and he was quite good in the postseason,” Axisa wrote on November 8. “He’s a nice bounceback candidate for a Blue Jays team that needs to bounce back.”
Brian Cashman’s Latest Comments on Torres
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman received a slew of questions during the General Manager Meetings. Most of them were centered around Soto, while Cashman was also questioned about the Yankees’ brutal World Series performance.
While those are two important issues for Cashman and the Yankees, Torres isn’t too far behind them.
Cashman spoke with the media, including Randy Miller of NJ.com, about Torres and his future in the Bronx.
The Yankees general manager acknowledged that there’s a hole at second base, highlighting some potential internal candidates they could replace him with.
“Gleyber is a free agent, so there’s a vacancy currently,” Cashman said in November. “So what are our internal options? If you don’t re-sign Gleyber, do you move Jazz, who was learning third base on the run in the second half last year? Do you look at Caleb Durbin?”
Cashman said he’s also looked at external candidates but that bringing Torres back isn’t out of the question.
“Are there external candidates that you run into that you can import as a free agent that might not be Gleyber? Maybe you bring Gleyber back. Is there a trade candidate?
“Our job is to evaluate all of it and then how it settles in with the rest of the roster. Those are things that we will be doing.”
Should the Yankees Re-Sign Torres
Re-signing Torres wouldn’t be the worst idea for the New York Yankees, depending on his price.
For his sake, he had one of the worst regular seasons of his career. Outside of 2021, this was the worst year of his career, statistically. Torres posted a 101 OPS+ and hit just 15 home runs for the Yankees.
However, while his contract season was disappointing, he’s a career 112 OPS+ hitter, which is well above average for second basemen.
If the price is right, he’d be a positive in this lineup moving forward.
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