Now that Thanksgiving is finished and dusted, with the Winter Meetings quick approaching, baseball’s sizzling range goes to maneuver from a simmer to a boil.
If the Yankees wish to be a part of the commerce celebration and deal from their main league roster, your entire league shall be one specific participant. Gleyber Torres is coming off a really strong season that noticed him get his drooping slugging proportion again above .450, launch 24 residence runs and put up a 115 wRC+ whereas limiting his errors on protection.
The Yankees definitely don’t need to commerce him, but when they wish to make a win-now transfer to extend their World Series odds, there are arguments to be made on either side of the Torres coin.
PROS
TORRES IS THEIR BEST MLB TRADE CHIP
Apart from the highest of the farm system, which the Yankees have proven constant reluctance to deal from, Torres is probably the most intriguing participant in relation to getting commerce conversations going. There had been rumblings that the Yankees explored flipping Torres to Miami for top-of-rotation pitcher Pablo Lopez, and there’s positively a familiarity between the entrance workplaces due to Marlins’ common supervisor Kim Ng’s historical past as an assistant GM underneath Brian Cashman.
This might be a scenario the place the Yankees see how the free agent market shakes out after which consider potential trades afterward, which is strictly what they did final yr when the Gary Sanchez-Josh Donaldson commerce went down simply days earlier than their first spring coaching sport. Last offseason was additionally difficult by the lockout. That’s not a difficulty this winter, which means the Yankees can get began instantly in the event that they wish to discover Torres trades, significantly for a nook outfielder.
DJ LEMAHIEU CAN PLAY SECOND
Ridding themselves of Torres wouldn’t create a gap within the infield. DJ LeMahieu is a three-time Gold Glove winner at second base who simply added one other one on the utility place. The solely query about LeMahieu is well being. But if he’s on the sector, he’s greater than able to taking part in second base, and Oswaldo Cabrera can spell him, making buying and selling Torres a little bit simpler for the Yankees to rationalize.
TORRES’ WALKS ARE GOING DOWN AND STRIKEOUTS ARE GOING UP
In 2020, Torres drew a stroll in a career-high 13.8% of his plate appearances. Like many issues from that oddball season, that turned out to be a mirage, as he adopted that up with a 9.7% stroll fee in 2021 and a career-low 6.8% in 2022.
His strikeout fee is trending in the other way, going from 17.5% in 2020 to twenty.2% and 22.6% within the subsequent two seasons. When Torres was at his finest in 2019, he walked 7.9% of the time and struck out in 21.4% of his plate appearances. The numbers from 2022 aren’t an enormous departure from these, however they maybe point out a shift towards the all-or-nothing method that the Yankees swear they’re making an attempt to get away from.
2019 GLEYBER IS NEVER COMING BACK
Speaking of that 2019 marketing campaign — the one the place Torres mashed 38 residence runs in his age-22 season — it can by no means occur once more. Major League Baseball was each utilizing a juiced ball that season, which led to by far probably the most residence runs ever, and pitchers have figured Torres out since then.
MIDDLE INFIELD IS THE FARM SYSTEMS STRENGTH
At some level quickly, the Yankees are going to need to embrace their youth motion and switch a number of the premium positions over to the youngsters. Shortstop is clearly on the forefront of that, however whichever member of the Cabrera-Oswald Peraza-Anthony Volpe troika that doesn’t plant their flag at shortstop may transfer one place to the left.
CONS
TORRES IS ONLY 25
This doubles as the principle purpose why the Yankees ought to hold him and why they need to no less than verify in with different groups about their stage of need.
A 25-year-old with Torres’ expertise may nonetheless theoretically attain one other stage, and the Yankees have two extra years to see what that appears like earlier than he hits free company. The probability of buying and selling him and watching him grow to be a perennial All-Star in a special uniform looms giant, making the hypothetical return they’d get for him much more vital.
COUNTING ON DONALDSON
If Torres does actually go away, ceding the second base place, that might imply one other full season of Josh Donaldson taking part in third. Keeping Torres would permit LeMahieu to take the lion’s share of reps at third base, a way more palatable choice for a group that spent most of 2022 making an attempt to justify Donaldson’s enormous quantity of taking part in time. There’s additionally a world the place Torres is traded, one of many rookies is given the keys to second and LeMahieu takes the recent nook, turning Donaldson into a really costly backup.
The hope right here could be that whoever the Yankees get again for Torres creates extra worth than Donaldson takes away, or that the soon-to-be 37-year-old can flip issues round.
EXIT VELOCITY KING
A serious purpose for Torres reclaiming his spot within the enamel of the Yankees’ lineup was that he began hitting the ball more durable than he ever had earlier than. The Venezuelan infielder loved the very best common exit velocity, barrel proportion and hard-hit proportion of his profession. He additionally used the other area extra typically than ever earlier than, a welcome sight for a right-handed hitter in Yankee Stadium.
In different phrases, promoting him proper now may imply doing so simply as he’s placing all the things collectively.
The professionals outweigh the cons on this general dialog, however trades don’t occur in a vacuum, and there’s no assure that the items coming to the Bronx would pan out the way in which Cashman desires them to. It’s an advanced ordeal, and one that can certainly be intently examined for the subsequent few months, but it surely’s additionally probably the most logical path to fast enchancment with out decimating the farm system.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com