The Yankees and infielder Gleyber Torres have avoided arbitration, per Joel Sherman of The New York Post. The Octagon client will make $14.2MM this year in his final year of club control before reaching free agency.
Torres just turned 27 in December, so he’s on track to become a free agent at an earlier point of his career than most free agents. He put together a strong .273/.347/.453 slash in 672 trips to the plate in 2023, popping 25 home runs and connecting on 28 doubles and a pair of triples. Torres walked at a 10% clip — the highest mark of his career in a full season — and struck out at a career-low 14.6% clip. He added 13 steals in 19 tries as well. Both Defensive Runs Saved (-4) and Outs Above Average (-3) pegged him as a slightly below-average defender, but neither portrayed him as a pure liability. Torres’ well-rounded offensive output more than offset any shortcomings with the glove.
While Torres has been an oft-rumored trade candidate throughout his Yankees tenure, it seems increasingly likely that he’ll play out his final season of club control in Yankee pinstripes. He was the team’s second-best hitter behind Aaron Judge last season, and the Yanks are going all out in an effort to return to the postseason after last year’s miss — evidenced by their acquisition of Juan Soto, their aggressive (but unsuccessful) pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and tonight’s subsequent $37MM deal with right-hander Marcus Stroman. Add in the club’s trade for division rival outfielder Alex Verdugo and the potential for some further free-agent upgrades in the bullpen, and it’s clear the Yankees are focused on putting the best possible team on the field. Torres should be a pivotal part of that.
Torres has had an up-and-down tenure in the Bronx. He’ll probably never replicate the 38-homer season he delivered in the juiced-ball campaign back in 2019, but after moving off shortstop to a second base position that suits him far better, he’s been a consistently above-average hitter. Whether that’s pure happenstance or whether the pressures of struggling at shortstop were weighing on him at the plate can never be definitively proven, but either way, Torres has hit .266/.330/.452 since his position change.
Assuming he’s able to author a third consecutive season in that general vicinity, Torres will reach free agency next year as one of the top infielders available — both based on his age and his offensive track record. He’d be a surefire candidate to receive and reject a qualifying offer, giving the Yankees the opportunity to recoup some value in the form of a 2025 draft pick (as will be the case with the aforementioned Soto). That could well be the ultimate route for Torres, too, as the Yankees could turn the second base job over to prospect Oswald Peraza in 2025, when he’ll still be just 24 years of age.
MLBTR’s guy overestimated his salarly as well. I wish there were a tracker to average predictions vs actual salaries per year and what percent were over vs under.
They’re usually a pretty good indicator, just not the end all be all
Makes me wonder if they’ve convinced him he may be retained on an extension, because that’s $1M to $2.5M less than projected.
No, this FO rarely does extensions. And they wouldn’t for just a good not elite player.
This guy just really isn’t that good. I day trade him for some pitching
He’s above average but does a lot of things that drive you nuts as a fan. Horrible baserunning being the main one.
He’s also fat
*Yawn* Ok
Insane payday for a player of his ability. Enjoy writing those checks Yanks
fat? He isn’t fat? Unless you’re talking about yourself.. You’re probably fatter than him.. Maybe lay off the mac and cheese before you talk smack about a baseball player who will forever be more successful than you’ll ever be.
Torres is pretty chunky no matter how much you want to sugar coat it, bro
His ability was a 26 million dollar value for the Yankees last season so there is that….
Defensively, he’s a liability, but not a “pure” liability.
It’s time to trade Torres now. Peraza is the future. Still waiting for the Stanton trade for a half eaten hot dog.
Torres will be traded at the deadline…Yankees won’t be a playoff team this year…probably dump Soto at the same time…have a nice year Yankee fans
You don’t watch the games apparently.
Very good offensive player.
Does little else well.
Frequently lacks focus which leads to dumb decision making.
Frustrating but helpful at the same time.
Not a guy you want on a World Series winning team. Watching him every day his baseball instincts are poor. A Gary Sanchez infielder
Why wouldn’t you want him on a World Series winning team… obviously, your verbiage implies the team already won the World Series so are you afraid he will get drunk and fall off the float or something?
There should never be a comma before “too.” It’s not the 60s anymore.
All hail the grammar king. I’m so thankful I excel at math. I would have to kick my own arse if I acted like this guy.
For “excelling” at math, you ironically don’t appear to excel at logic, since you can only resort to fallacious ad hominem attacks to attempt to prove your point.
Something tells me that your math skills have never gotten you far in the world, since you clearly lack people skills.
You also don’t appear to excel at English. That’s punctuation, not grammar.
Being the second best hitter on the Yankees, in a year in which they finished last on almost every offensive category, is not much of a of an accomplishment. He’d be the 5th or 6th best hitter if that, on most contending teams