Trading This Player Away Doesn’t Make Much Sense For the Yankees

By Derek McAdam

November 22, 2023

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Free agency is beginning to buzz as December approaches, and while there has only been one “major” signing in former Yankee Lance Lynn returning to the St. Louis Cardinals on a one-year deal, the dominoes are likely to begin falling within the next weeks. And it is no surprise that the New York Yankees will be active in attempting to sign at least one big name this off-season. The only question is how many big free agents will they sign and how much will it take to secure their signatures?

While the free agency news is going to be the dominating headline surrounding the Yankees for the next six weeks or so, there is still one major roster question that may soon be answered, which is whether Brian Cashman decides to trade away Gleyber Torres. And sadly enough for the Yankees, it is not going to be an easy answer for the team to make, for several reasons.

Since his Major League debut in May 2018, Torres is a career .267 hitter with 123 home runs. Torres has a great ability to drive the ball all over the field, and mostly likes to drive to ball into the opposite field when he’s on a warm streak at the plate. While he had a couple of seasons in 2020 * (Covid season) and 2021 where he hit a combined 12 home runs between the two seasons, Torres has rebounded in the power department and, overall, has been one of the better Yankees on the offensive side in his brief career, and that says a lot about the state of the Yankees.

However, Torres’ biggest downside comes on the defensive side. The Yankees’ 17 errors committed by a second baseman was the most in the entire league, while Torres was responsible for 15 of those. Torres has become somewhat nonchalant when making throws to either first or second base, and while that isn’t always a problem, it is a concern when you’re among the league leaders in errors, especially for a second baseman.

Regardless of his defensive woes, Torres has become heavily involved in the trade rumors, with a trending proposal sending him to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Alex Verdugo, both of whom are in their final year of arbitration. The Yankees and Red Sox rarely make any deals, although have in recent years, having traded Adam Ottavino in 2021. While this wouldn’t be a blockbuster trade, it would still be the biggest trade between the two clubs in a very long time.

Verdugo is appealing to the Yankees for several reasons. He’s a left-handed batter who can play the outfield, specifically left field, although he played right field for the Red Sox full-time last season. As many Yankee fans know, the team is pursuing outfielders this off-season, so this would fill a void. The Yankees are also clustered in the infield, as Anthony Rizzo is expected to be ready for Spring Training. This will likely send DJ LeMahieu back to second base, or third, depending on what the decision is with Oswald Peraza.

But there are a couple of concerns that I have with Verdugo. First, he does not have much power, as his season-high in home runs is 13. I could definitely see his total rising with the short porch in right field, but it’s not as if Fenway Park’s right field is extremely tough to get home runs in, either. Verdugo has also seen his batting average decline in three straight seasons, with a .264 average last season. It’s also worth mentioning that Red Sox manager Alex Cora benched Verdugo twice last season, once for not hustling and the other for showing up late to the stadium on a game day. It may not seem like much, but both are traits that can annoy other teammates.

A straight swap of Torres and Verdugo is unlikely to happen, as there may be a prospect or two going to the Yankees to try and even the trade out. And while the Yankees are certainly looking to fill their farm system with any prospects, as they have shown in the Jake Bauers trade with Milwaukee, this is not a prime opportunity to acquire multiple prospects.

However, if Torres were traded to a team that is in need of a second baseman and prepared to trade prospects instead of a league-ready player, the Yankees can definitely get a couple of good prospects out of the deal. But I can’t see Cashman dumping Torres for prospects unless he was able to acquire another outfielder in free agency, such as Cody Bellinger. But there is another interesting scenario that could potentially happen.

The Yankees have made it clear that they are interested in acquiring Juan Soto, who is also entering his final season of arbitration, from the San Diego Padres. It is possible that Torres could be included in the deal, although the Padres would have to do some reshuffling in the infield to make it work. Torres has only played shortstop and second base, and shortstop is filled by Xander Bogaerts, while Ha-seong Kim mostly played at second base. So while this seems like a long-shot, it still could be a possibility.

But in the end, it just doesn’t make much sense for the Yankees to trade Torres away. He is one of the few Yankee prospects, although not home-grown, to actually do well at the Major League level over the past decade. And with the Yankees’ biggest problems is their ability to hit for average, in which they finished second-worst in the entire league last year, shipping Torres off could negatively impact them in this area.

Plus, the Yankees have learned over the years that they can never have too much depth at a position. The infield has seen its fair share of injuries, and it’s impossible to predict when these injuries will occur, who will get injured, and how long the injuries will last.

There is no question that the defense is very shaky and has been a liability, but Torres’ offense has somewhat been able to make up for that. Now, if the Yankees find themselves out of a playoff race come the middle of July, and Torres is having another good season, Cashman should absolutely trade him and boost the farm system. But that’s something that we can discuss down the line, if the team is even in that situation.