The Yankees announced today that they’ve claimed infielder Ronald Torreyes off waivers from the Angels and designated outfielder Lane Adams for assignment in order to clear a spot for Torreyes on the 40-man roster. This marks the second time that the Yankees have acquired Torreyes, as they acquired him and lefty Tyler Olson from the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations earlier this month.
Somewhat strangely, the Yankees removed Torreyes from the 40-man roster by designating him for assignment in order to make room for Adams, who today was designated to clear space for Torreyes. The move looks curious on paper, of course, but the team’s hope may simply be that it is able to ultimately sneak one or both of Adams or Torreyes throughout outright waivers in order to keep him in the organization without committing a 40-man roster spot.
Torreyes has undergone one of the largest offseason whirlwinds in recent memory. In the past month alone, he’s been designated for assignment by the Dodgers, traded to the Yankees, designated for assignment by the Yankees, claimed by the Angels, designated for assignment by the Angels and now claimed by the Yankees. That, of course, is in addition to the fact that Torreyes began the 2015 season with Houston before being traded to the Blue Jays and later traded to the Dodgers. All told, he’s been a part of five organizations in the past eight and a half months alone. Torreyes has seen most of his professional defensive work come at second base, though he does have significant experience at shortstop (144 games) and third base (65 games) as well. He’s also seen a bit of time in the corner outfield. This past season, the 23-year-old batted .261/.308/.347 between Double-A and Triple-A in his time with the Astros, Blue Jays and Dodgers organizations.
The fleet-footed Adams, 26, reached Triple-A for the first time this past season, struggling through 37 games there on the heels of a strong Double-A campaign. Overall, the Oklahoma native batted a combined .281/.347/.445 with 16 homers and 31 stolen bases — his third consecutive season with 30 or more steals. Last winter, Baseball America rated him 15th among Royals farmhands, calling him a plus-plus runner and a plus defender with a fringe-average arm and a bit of pull power. Ultimately BA pegged him as a fourth outfielder.
The ol switcheroo
don’t get comfortable, ronald
Indians should claim Lane Adams. If the Yankees want a trade move 1B Jesus Aguilar perfect fit since Greg Bird’s season is lost to injury.
Torreyes just received consoling texts from 2015 DFA leaders Ryan Lavarnway and Alex Hassan.
I feel bad for him.
Why? It’s not like he’s been moving city to city.
This really should not be allowed
The Yankees should be forced to keep Torreyes on their 40-man roster until like June because of this.
If other teams can do it, then why not the Yankees?
Not the Yankees specifically, I mean any team that claims a depth guy off waivers with the intention of DFA’ing him a week later and hoping he clears this time.
Comedy
How many more drops and claims does he need for an MLB record? or does he already own it?