When Gleyber Torres burst onto the scene with the New York Yankees with back-to-back All-Star campaigns in his rookie and sophomore seasons, he was looking like the next great Yankee.
Torres, who initially signed with the Chicago Cubs as an international free agent out of Venezuela, was traded to the Yankees in 2016 in a five-player deal that sent All-Star reliever Aroldis Chapman to the eventual World Series champions.
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Torres debuted in 2018, making the All-Star team and finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He was even better in 2019, hitting what is still a career-high 38 home runs with 90 runs batted in. He made another All-Star appearance and even earned down-ballot MVP votes.
Torres struggled to remain consistent after 2019. He had a sub-.800 OPS in each of the next three seasons, including a career-low .697 OPS in 2021. While he remained an above-average hitter — with consecutive 20-plus home run seasons in 2022 and 2023 — the Yankees appeared to want more.
After a 2024 season in which Torres hit .257 with 15 home runs and 63 RBIs, the infielder headed to free agency.
In late December — after the Yankees had plenty of time to re-sign Torres — the two-time All-Star signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Detroit Tigers.
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At his introductory press conference, he was asked about his communication with the Yankees. He said he never received an offer from the reigning AL champs.
“I think they have other priorities and I’m not on the list,” Torres said of the Yankees.
“After the World Series, I got a lot of phone calls from other teams and just focused to get an opportunity in another place. I feel like I have to play where somebody wants to give the best for me, and I just want to be available to do the best for the team.”
Through the first six weeks of the season, Torres has done just that.
Entering Tuesday, Torres is slashing .304/.375/.482 with five home runs, 24 RBIs and an OPS of .857. He’s already generated 1.0 fWAR after generating just 1.7 fWAR across his entire 2024 season with New York.
Torres is making a serious case to be an AL All-Star at second base come July. Meanwhile, the Yankees have struggled to get production from second base this season.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was hitting .181 with an OPS of .714 across 30 games before suffering an oblique injury. Oswald Peraza, Jorbit Vivas and Pablo Reyes have a combined WAR of -0.4 as second basemen replacements.
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