With the Tigers’ season now over, Gleyber Torres is planning to undergo sports hernia surgery, the second baseman told reporters (including the Detroit News’ Tony Paul) in the aftermath of the club’s loss in Game Five of the ALDS. Torres revealed that he has been dealing with the injury for several months, and praised the Tigers’ training and medical staff for helping him keep playing.
“It was not good from the [start of the] second half,” Torres said. “It was a lot of pain. But we do a really good job keeping me playing….It’s not about the numbers, it’s just about playing every day.”
A look at Torres’ numbers, however, clearly reveals something was amiss. Torres hit .281/.387/.425 over 359 plate appearances in the first half of the season, and was performing well enough to earn a starting nod as the American League’s second baseman in the All-Star Game. Once the All-Star break was over, however, Torres hit only .223/.320/.339 over his final 269 PA of the regular season. He seemed to rediscover his stroke over Detroit’s first seven postseason games, but an 0-for-6 showing in yesterday’s 15-inning marathon with the Mariners dropped Torres’ playoff slash line to .235/.316/.382 over 38 PA.
Torres’ slide mirrored the Tigers’ own fortunes. One of baseball’s better clubs for much of the season, Detroit went 9-22 over its last 31 games and barely squeaked into the postseason field in the final AL wild card slot. If the Tigers had retained their healthy AL Central lead, Torres likely would’ve gotten more opportunity to rest down the stretch, and yet the mutual struggles of player and team led to the Tigers led to an unfortunate Catch-22 situation. The Tigers still needed Torres in the lineup as much as possible as their top-choice second baseman, yet Torres’ struggles kept adding to the team’s woes (though Torres was far from the only Detroit player to under-perform in September).
The injury adds context to Torres’ second-half decline, and adds a wrinkle to his upcoming free agent market. Firstly, sports hernia surgeries usually take at least two months of recovery time and closer to 12 weeks on the longer end, so the procedure shouldn’t impact his readiness for the start of Spring Training. Interested suitors might now wait until Torres is fully recovered before diving too deeply into his market, so it is possible he might not sign until late December or early January.
For the season as a whole, Torres hit .256/.358/.387 with 16 homers over 628 PA, with below-average glovework (though better public defensive metrics than his 2024 work as the Yankees’ second baseman). This works out to 2.6 fWAR, which was still eighth-best among all second baseman in 2025. Looking at the free agent second base market, Torres is still arguably the best option available, since Jorge Polanco’s time at second base was also impacted by injury.
Torres’ reps at Octagon will clearly make the case that their client’s first-half performance is a better reflection of what a healthy Torres can bring. Detroit signed Torres to a one-year, $15MM contract last winter that was essentially a pillow deal for the second baseman, as he was looking a shorter-term deal and a better platform year in 2025 that would allow him to re-enter the market with a stronger set of numbers. Torres hit .257/.330/.378 with 15 homers over 665 PA (with a 105 wRC+ and 1.8 fWAR) for New York in 2024, so while he did improve in Detroit, it wasn’t the leap ahead he was hoping to achieve.
Could a return to Motown be possible? Torres is open to it, saying “hopefully we get a really good conversation here. I feel really good with this group….It was really special this year.” Retaining Torres would be a logical way for the Tigers to keep a right-handed hitting bat within their lefty-tilted lineup. On the flip side, a longer-term deal with a second baseman might not appeal to a Tigers team that has some notable minor league infielders (Hao-Yu Lee, Max Anderson, and star prospect Kevin McGonigle) nearing MLB readiness.
This perfectly illustrates how critical depth is in sports. By his own admission, it was more important to be playing every day, even though his performance was borderline detrimental to the team’s outcome.
This shows that Gleyber was only thinking about his next contract. If he was on a multi year deal, he would have taken surgery already. Wish him luck next year.
I don’t disagree about his motivations. I think more for the team’s aspect of it, because I think we all know if they would have had a healthy viable piece to plug at 2b they would have gone that route.
Agreed That guy. I’m not a Torres fan but he won me over somewhat this year. He didn’t hide the injury and thanked the club’s medical team for keeping him off the IL. I think with this injury declared, he will have opportunities in free agency once the medical reports show the surgery was a success. His major drawback though remains his refusal to play other positions.
That – Please explain to me how having the surgery now instead of 3 months ago somehow benefits him.
He allowed his numbers to tank because his team needed him, just like Raffy Devers did last year.
How does Gleyber’s awful second half performance help him in any way?
SMH …..
Fever, hernias can be mild or severely debilitating and not many have surgery if it’s “optional”. It appears that he discussed options with the Tigers’ medical team and agreed he would play through it. It could have gotten worse and surgery now should clean him up. His value could be increased because teams have an explanation as to why his second half was bad.
Makes sense as his numbers fell off a cliff the 2nd half of the year.
He was a steady influence for the young players and should get a 3-4 year deal for less AAV. Probably a 3 40 or 4 50 would make sense. Not sure Detroit even makes an offer though unless they give a qualifying offer. With the prospects ready to move it doesn’t make sense to keep him, unless it’s a team friendly deal
QO?
No.
Torres is streaky with or without nagging injuries.
That was one heck of a game and my 1945 World Series rerun of Cubs- Tigers is dead. Sigh……
I see 50M as the absolute limit on any contract he gets. Teams simply don’t go very high for second base only types, especially poor defenders.
Why don’t you pinch hit for him yesterday if he was hurt??? What terrible management lmao
Go ahead and let us know who you would have brought off the bench so we can call you an idiot
Sports hernia or not, I doubt he will be back. Tigers have 3 young 2B with Jung, Lee, and Anderson who will likely be given the chance to make the team. 2B’s don’t get a lot on the open market, healthy or not. The injury can be reasoned to have hurt his production, but teams will want to see him perform post injury before giving him a multi-year contract. I see another one year prove-it contract in his future.
…and don’t count McGonigle out as next year’s second baseman. It’s his natural position. His throwing arm at SS is adequate but not great.
Sounds like Hinch’s fault for allowing an injured player to go out there day after day and play terribly due to his injury. Same deal with Colt Keith in the postseason, he was still injured and shouldn’t have been on the roster for the Seattle series.
The Tigers had a great season. They have all winter and spring to plan for next season. Tigers have a loaded farm system, and we all know they don’t hesitate to go after someone they like. 15 innings in a 5th game of 5 is pretty much leaving it all on the field. Next year. Next year is what keeps peoples hopes alive, and that’s the fun part of baseball. GREAT SEASON DETROIT TIGERS WHO GAVE IT THEIR ALL !
I was totally mind-boggled over Hinch not pinch-hitting or subbing or anything in the 15 inning marathon. I mean, he is known for mixing and making chaos and he didn’t do it one time. Wow, what a game that was!