Gleyber Torres wants to be a New York Yankee for life.
The veteran second baseman said as much during a media scrum on Wednesday. Forget the Yankees’ infield depth or that it’s his contract year. Pinstripes are who he is.
“I don’t want to leave here,” Torres said. “I want to be a Yankee for life.”
Torres has been a Yankee since he was a teenager acquired from the Cubs in 2016. He debuted in 2018 and has since become a two-time All-Star. His career year came in 2019, his second pro season, when Torres slammed 38 home runs.
Since then, however, Gleyber Torres has regressed and kinda sorta risen again. Breaking out so young led to overcompensating for home runs, which led to injuries, which led to his swing suffering.
Torres is also prone to frustrating, not to mention poorly timed mental mistakes in the field. A bobbled two-hopper here. A rushed throw there. The occasional lack of urgency. Cue -24 defensive runs saved (DRS) and -15 outs above average (OAA) in
And yet, last season, Torres finally righted himself. He remembered how to be a contact hitter and put more balls in play in the middle of the field. Better yet, he also slugged 25 homers and cut his strikeouts by 8%.
The multi-million dollar question remains: Is this Gleyber Torres forever or just a one-off?
General manager Brian Cashman needs to find the answer, and fast. Torres is an established veteran, but what to do with young infielder and his fellow Venezuelan Oswald Peraza? He’s long been considered a top infield prospect, but hit .191 in a handful of MLB games last year.
Even so, Peraza is still just 23 and did a good job developing some power in the minors. Barring an awful spring training, he’s probably breaking camp with the big league team and playing alongside Torres at some point.
It all comes down to a simple question: Do the Yankees trade or not re-sign Gleyber Torres and invest in Peraza’s upside, or do they gamble on Torres keeping up his production and give him at or about $20 million a year? It wouldn’t be the worst decision if his bat is indeed back, since he’s still just 27 years old.
Thus is the latest update from the Yankees’ infield traffic report. Gleyber Torres would very much like to stay in his lane, but Peraza and even Oswaldo Cabrera are looking to merge into it.
Games start on Sunday, so stay tuned.
