The Yankees announced Sunday that they have reached agreement on a one-year contract with Gleyber Torres, avoiding salary arbitration. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports that the deal is worth $9.95MM, right at the midway point between the $10.2MM sum that Torres requested and the $9.7MM number that New York put forth when arbitration figures were exchanged earlier this winter.
Torres commanded $6.25 million in 2022 — his second year of arbitration eligibility — and went on to bounce back from a power standpoint with 24 home runs and 76 RBI in 140 regular-season games for the AL East champions. He totaled only nine homers over 127 games played in 2021, when his negotiated salary came in at $4 million. Torres seemed a bit more comfortable in general last year following a more permanent move from shortstop to second base. But he does have some work to do in the OBP department, as his .310 on-base percentage from 2022 was a personal low. That number finished at .331 in 2021, .356 in 2020, .337 in 2019 and .340 in his rookie year in 2018.
Torres drew back-to-back All-Star nods in his first two major league seasons before regular defensive mishaps and inconsistent offensive production threatened to derail such a promising start to his career. He just turned 26 years old and is currently under the Yankees’ control through the 2024 campaign. They’ll certainly hope that he can carry over the hard-hit-rate rebound in 2023 while looking for him to return to overall form as a worthy top-of-the-lineup presence.
Most projected roster outlooks have Torres batting leadoff for the Yanks this season, table-setting ahead of Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, Harrison Bader, Aaron Hicks, Oswald Peraza and Jose Trevino. Largely unchanged over the winter, that lineup placed 2nd among all 30 MLB teams last year in runs scored, behind only the Dodgers. It ranked 4th in combined team OPS at .751 as the Bronx Bombers won 99 games.
Of course, Torres isn’t necessarily a guarantee to be part of the 2023 lineup. The Yankees are known to have looked into possible trades of infielders this winter, and while Donaldson or Isiah Kiner-Falefa might be the team’s preferred trade chips, Torres is also a candidate to be moved for the right return. The Marlins made a bid for Torres at the trade deadline, offering Pablo Lopez and Miguel Rojas to New York in exchange for Torres and Peraza, but the Bombers rejected the proposal.
9.95 million reported by Feinsand
Ok,at least it’s not from Jon Heyman.
$9.995? Why not just give him $10mm?
more proof of a trade .. Cashman to other GM … “hey i got a young all star 2nd baseman making under 10M” … you interested?
You must not know how arb works.
Congratulations here’s your salary, and now you will be traded. Smh
Uh what?
A Gleyber trade looks very unlikely these days, at least for now. He could be moved mid season but next offseason is most likely. Sadly that means Volpe probably gets the same treatment as Peraza from last year
@Ronk325- just keep in mind when Volpe is ready to play 2nd in the majors then Torres is likely a goner. The better Gleyber plays, just boosts up his trade value more for a leftfielder like (Ian Happ) I bet by the trading deadline Torres is playing elsewhere.
Captain it also a good chance Volpe moves to third. Coin flip for who gets traded between Torres and IKF. Then again, it’s a very good chance nobody gets traded.
Can he (Torres) play 3rd? He hits better than IKF.
Captain, I can’t see the Yankees trading Gleyber in season if he’s playing well, even if Volpe is ready. I’m really starting to get the sense that Volpe will be stuck in AAA for the majority of the year
Joe, Volpe doesn’t have the arm for 3B and will most likely play 2B long term. The long term plan is probably to have DJ primarily play 3B along with Cabrera seeing some time there
Thanks Ronk, I didn’t know about Volpe’s arm.
Either way I admit to being nervous about relying on two rookies.
Wait a minute, if Volpe can play SS he can play third or second.. I think DJ’s plan is to play 3rd, 2nd, and 1st..
Captain,
Volpe’s best position is 2B, if he’s ready you are right Torres is history. I think they wait until they are sure Volpe is the real deal, probably trade deadline. With Volpe, Peraza, and Bader the Yankees will dramatically increase their stolen bases particularly with the new rules. I for one feel their offense will be better and more consistent! Can’t wait for the season to start
@Ronk- I agree don’t expect to see Volpe up playing 2nd base until after the deadline but only if he’s ready. I definitely think Peraza if healthy will be in the running for ROY. If Torres is having a great year I definitely think he will be traded for a star leftfielder like Happ or Reynolds. I like Gleyber, and I can see many Yankee fans don’t. I definitely feel he will be missed if he’s traded. The haul in a trade will likely be better this season, then in his walk season next season. I’m excited about 2023 and I think the Yankees will play better then last season. We’ll see.
Hey Mickey,
I agree with everything you said, and I like you really look forward to the 2023 to begin, and yes there is a lot to be excited about. I don’t feel the Yankees need an All-Star at every position to be successful, and they most likely will be better then they were last season. Let the games begin sir!
Volpe is best suited to 2B? Why?
Limited mobility & arm. He’s an average SS with a below-average arm and the only reason he’s playing SS right now is because of his internal clock & advanced baseball IQ. When he gets to the majors it likely won’t be enough to keep Volpe an adequate SS. 2B will allow him to play an above-average defense coupled with those attributes.
Why would the cubs trade their LF for a 2B with only 2 years of control. When they have multiple 2B options already?
Makes 0 sense & won’t happen.
Have to disagree. Volpe’s best position would be DH. His defense is on par with Hanley Ramirez. They should trade him now at peak value before other teams find out he’s a better hitting Andujar with a weaker arm. There is a reason Peraza is oft mentioned in trade rumors. When teams send scouts to view the prospects Volpe’s bat doesn’t cover his defense. Peraza can stick at short with enough bat to be a solid starter. He is the better prospect but doesn’t have the ceiling of Volpe.
I don’t think they can start two rookies in the infield. This is a playoff team not Detroit
To White Sox! Yay
No 200M extension talks?
The logical outcome. In principal the Yankees didn’t want to reach the $10M threshold at this point- reminds me of the deal they made with Pavano when he was signed as a free agent, where the total and AAV were just under $10M a year- because there was something about reaching or crossing that threshold where the Yankees wanted to send a message by refusing to go to that number, despite being willing to go right up to that number.
I would also guess that Gleyber’s “camp” broached a multi-year deal and the Yankees wouldn’t go there because right now they plan to trade Gleyber for as good a haul as possible if not also some salary relief before the beginning or end of the 2023 season.
I am sure Gleyber’s camp was willing to give the Yankees a “discount” and would take an 9 year/$148.5M deal or something (2 years/$24.5M to buy out his last two years of arbitration and then a 7 year/$124M extension, arguing he could get $20M or more AAV on the open market so it’d be a home town discount) and the Yankees politely declined claiming they wouldn’t want him to short change himself and he should give himself a chance to maximize his value over the next two years.
No one is giving Torres a 9 year deal. Right now he’s Kolton Wong with a little more power and little less defense. He’s a step above average 2bman unless he learns to adjust at the plate better.
After his second season break out even with the juiced ball I thought he’d get like 8-10 years at around $25-$30M AAV after making like $42M or so in arbitration.
Now I think he’ll making like $14M his final year of arbitration and he’ll maybe get 4 years/$75M if he’s lucky, but probably more like 5 years/$64M or something.
Does Gleyber lead off this year?
DJ
Cue that guy who thinks he is bad.
Oh he bad but in a good way because he’s handsome 🙂
You can definitely do a lot worse then Gleyber at 2nd. Your not getting 38 homers from him again. But he hit 24 dingers last season, no reason why he couldn’t hit more in 2023.
If they can find a good return I’d be for trading him.
Would like to see 2b opened up for guys like Cabrera and Volpe.
He’s not hitting 38 again even if they play the Orioles 60 times 🙂
I would argue the continued stance that the offense has not changed from last year. Remember, this team was 2nd in all of baseball for runs scored and 4th in OPS. On the downside, we cannot expect Judge to have another season like that. On the positive side, Rizzo should have a better year st the plate without the shift. Torres gad a good year especially if you take out that 2 month awful period. Peraza is replacing IKF from the looks of it. He will be better defensively and has more power and upside. Donaldson was awful when he came back from injury. If we get a whole year of the first part of last season, we would take it. Plus we have DJ as the stand in as well as playing a full season. We were without the true dj in the second half. Having IKF as our backup utility infielder is better than Gonzalez from last year. Even if we get a repeat out of Stanton, who had a somewhat done year, that would be ok. In the outfield, Bader is a the swap for Gallo. Left field, we gave 6 guts competing for it. Don’t count out Ortega or Calhoun. Either of them have a chance to be a bit better than league average. Hicks had a terrible year but he still had an OBP of .330. The best scenario is he has a good first half and trade him at the deadline. Lastly for the outfield, we have a full year of Oswaldo. That could be a big piece of their game this year. We are missing Carpenter even though he was only around for half the season. He was a liability on the basepaths and in the field. At catcher, we are strong defensively and hopefully Trevino has a similar bat that he had in the first half. Last year was by far the most innings we covered. He worn down. So I feel thus team should actually be much improved offensively if many things fall in place. They were number 2 last year in all of baseball at runs scored. That is the ultimate stat of an offense. I think there should be optimism.
If there was even one paragraph break somewhere in here, I might have actually read this
It wasn’t that long and it was, in the end, just one long paragraph, not three or five. That’s when they lose me.
I know guys. I got on a run and didn’t realize how long it was going. Sorry. Lol
There must be something that the yankees don’t want the rest of baseball know, but I believe that the catching chores should be well covered with Treviño starting and Rotdvert as a back-up unless there’s something not right with the latter’s health. I don’t know but I believe I butchered the back-up catcher’s name.
I am pretty sure that the Yankees are going to be trading Hicks by the deadline as he is closing in on 10 – 5 rights where he can block any trade after this year, so I am thinking he is a goner by trade deadline even if Yankees have to eat half or so of his salary. I believe he will get ample opportunities to show his stuff – maybe he will surprise all of us and have a good year. I think he would still get traded, bu they would have to throw in less money to complete the trade.
What do you think of this trade proposal: Torres, Donaldson, Cortes, Volpe and Austin Wells for Ohtani.
It’s funny.
9 out of 10 trade proposals suck. Best to steer clear.
Yanks look to have a top notch rotation in the infield, between Rizzo, Torres, Peraza, and Donaldson with DJ as utility man. Then if Donaldson fails they still have Volpe and Cabrera who can play infield with IKF looking to be the odd man out in a trade if everyone stays healthy.
Top notch infield rotation?
They definitely have a bunch of infielders. but that an embarrassing infield to be honest.
A bit surprised they didn’t come to this midway point when they exchanged figures. It might make sense to offer him extension as the Mets and Rays just did with their players, especially as Torres is coming off a 4.1 bWAR season. The difference is in the case of players like McNeil and Diaz, both are 31, Gleyber is 26. He’ll want to hit free agency, and I’m not sure the Yankees want to extend him as he’ll be costly and they have at least three prospects who are middle infielders.
I doubt they’ll trade Gleyber to depend on DJ at second base. They aren’t entirely sure DJ is 100% healthy even now, and it’s been a while since he made it through an entire season without injury. The wild card might be whether they think Volpe will be ready to take over at second base. But that’s just adding another gamble to the equation.
Only a fool of a GM would swap out a healthy 26 yr old 2nd baseman for a past his prime 34 yr old with a chronic foot condition for which he refused to undergo surgery.
@CTbronx7- We really know this is a chronic foot condition for DJ? If your right it would definitely be wise to keep Gleyber then.
“most projected roster outlooks: have batting leadoff ? I haven’t seen one batting him leadoff. Nor do I know any fans who watched games last year who would think this was accurate
True. Torres only batted leadoff in three games last year. Most projections have DJ batting leadoff.
That’s just not a very impressive lineup.
“Most projected roster outlooks has Torres batting lead off?” I’ve yet to see one roster outlook that projects that. DJ is expected back and at the top of the order.