The Yankees’ longtime starting second baseman was about to enter his walk year after an underappreciated season that was mostly overshadowed by the team’s general offensive ineptitude. Although Torres was considerably above average in a vacuum, his 118 OPS+ season had no business ranking as the second-best offensive season for the 2023 Yankees.
In a defensive manner?
That, though, is a different tale. Occasionally, a Torres mental breakdown would surface, which frequently led to a once-dead team coming back to life (recall the Cubs-Yankees game that effectively ended the 2023 team’s chances prior to the All-Star break).
Given that Torres wears his heart on his sleeve, there was a potential that he would enter 2024 in a less-than-proper frame of mind. Fortunately, fans would likely find out quite quickly how he was feeling in less than a year until the mind-boggling reality of free agency arrived.
The early comebacks?
He and Juan Soto are becoming buddies, but he’s been demoted from the leadoff position, has an OPS in the.500s, and on Sunday he cleaned up his defensive gaffes to reopen the door for a feisty Guardians squad in the first game of a doubleheader.
Caleb Ferguson hit righty Tyler Freeman with a great running fastball to cause a double play with the bases loaded, one out, and the Yankees leading 3-0. Sadly, Torres had different ideas.
There were two runs scored.
The Yankees escape a thrilling 3-2 match in Cleveland despite a nearly disastrous blunder by Gleyber Torres.
Rather than coasting to a 3-0 victory (and seeking to add), the Yankees were obliged to employ their elite back-end arms going forward.
That meant that, with the night game still to come, it was almost a must-win. With another game approaching, you use Ian Hamilton for more than thirty pitches and Clay Holmes during the ninth, and you still lose? That would not have been favorably received.
Fortunately, the Yankees’ bad luck with barreled balls did not affect the outcome. The ninth resembled Holmes’ last stand in Houston after Alex Verdugo finished the eighth with a brilliant catch down the line and an ingest of a baseball.
A seemingly gone-to-left 1-2 pitch from Ramon Laureano somehow managed to stay in the ballpark and bang off the wall. Estevan Florial successfully brought in a 1-2 slider for a ball with one on and one out following a Bo Naylor K. He then took a 3-2 slider on two pitches. He was shocked by the result this time.
A foundation for who else? A pitch later, Torres put an end to it.
The Yankees won the game they needed to win, but the infield defense of this club still has more issues than bullpen usage or high-variance RISP failures.
This April, Torres and Anthony Rizzo have both been as destructive, and neither player has much more leeway. When the early hot start is lifted, they’ll both be held accountable if the Yankees experience a slump.
