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3 Gleyber Torres trades Yankees could pursue

By Adam Weinrib |
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 08: Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees scores a run against the Tampa Bay Rays during the eighth inning in Game Four of the American League Division Series at PETCO Park on October 08, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 08: Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees scores a run against the Tampa Bay Rays during the eighth inning in Game Four of the American League Division Series at PETCO Park on October 08, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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The Yankees could move off of Gleyber Torres this winter in a trade.

Let’s make one thing clear here. Personally, we would rather keep Gleyber Torres in place and re-sign DJ LeMahieu as his partner than gamble with a Torres trade and hope to eventually ink a big-time shortstop next offseason.

This is largely because, well, Gleyber Torres is a big-time shortstop, and we shouldn’t be dissuaded by some second-rate defense or pre-glasses struggles in a 60-game season.

But there’s a chance the Yankees feel differently, and the “trade Gleyber, sign Lindor/Story/Baez/Correa/Seager” buzz has gotten a bit louder in recent days as the world tries to reckon with the ramifications of a potential LeMahieu return.

Not rumblings of reality, but more so people just…thinking out loud. Thinking a lot.

So, what would a Torres trade really look like, at this point? He’s only 23 years old, and he’s got two years of elite production, including a 38-homer 2019 season. He’s also never hit below .280 in a playoff series. I would urge hypothetical traders to consider all their options here, but if Torres really does hit the trade block, there would be some truly elite pieces on the other side of things.

We’d hold our nose and consider these three trades.

Luis Castillo #58 of the Cincinnati Reds (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Luis Castillo #58 of the Cincinnati Reds (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

3. Gleyber Torres to the Reds for Luis Castillo

Gleyber Torres could be the Yankees’ centerpiece in a Luis Castillo trade.

Truly, Torres is the only thing the Yankees have to offer that could overwhelm Cincinnati into a Luis Castillo trade — and he’s such a monster trade piece that it could be the Reds who would have to tack on a little something (No. 14 catching prospect Jackson Miller? We need catchers…).

It’s not mystifying, but Castillo appears to be the only thing bolted down in Cincy these days, as the epic sell-off continues with Sonny Gray in the coming days. He’s a bonafide young ace who would’ve been a core candidate for Brian Cashman to poach a few years ago, before he found his footing and the Reds became NL Central contenders.

Now, the only way you’re opening that door back up is by dangling Torres.

Castillo is entering his age-28 season with three years of control still under his belt, and comes off a 137 ERA+ in 2019, followed by a ridiculous 148 mark in the shortened 2020. In his most recent full season, he used his devastating changeup to strike out 226 men in 190.2 innings. Serving as the third head in a three-pronged Trevor Bauer/Gray/Castillo rotation this past year, he’s uniquely suited to be the fire-breathing No. 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole and ahead of Luis Severino in the Bronx.

Seems unlikely, but you simply don’t know until you offer.

Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /

2. Gleyber Torres to the Nationals for Max Scherzer/Carter Kieboom

The Yankees would be turning the dial up to 11 with this Gleyber Torres trade.

The Nationals are in eternal need of a second baseman, and the Yankees are looking to win both now and in the future.

Therefore, why wouldn’t the Nats surrender the final year of their expensive ace and their top prospect who failed to establish himself in 2020 in exchange for four years of a superstar? Makes sense! It’s also the type of trade that absolutely, positively never happens.

Scherzer, set to hit free agency before his age-38 season next year, is fresh off a 2019 World Series (vindication!) and 92 strikeouts in 67.1 innings in a slightly-subpar 60-game sample. If the Nationals think they’ll contend in 2021, then they’ll certainly hold onto him for the final season of his valuable mega-deal. But the exodus has already begun. Sean Doolittle is gone. Adam Eaton is gone. Howie Kendrick wants to play another season, but is no longer under contract. Juan Soto, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin remain, but ’21 will quite likely be a bridge to the future in DC. So why not take the plunge and kick the re-tool into high gear?

One year of Scherzer is obviously not worth four years of Torres, though, so even though Mad Max is likely the bigger name, it’ll cost the Nationals significantly more. In this hypothetical, the Yankees would have to shoot for the stars with Kieboom, who struggled to carve out a role for the Nats last year as the team’s consensus top prospect. If Washington isn’t willing to part with him in the package, there’s nothing else in their farm system that can even pique the Yankees’ interest enough to bring them to the table.

Dustin May #85 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Dustin May #85 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

1. Gleyber Torres for Gavin Lux and Dustin May

The Yankees would…probably say yes to this.

Come on! Let’s get weird! Let’s call the World Champions and cross our fingers we meet ’em in next year’s Series!

It’s easy to get fatigued by staring endlessly at your own roster, and no phenomenon is better explained by that than Yankees fans attempting to trade Torres and Luke Voit from a position of power. But the whole shortstop/second base conundrum really does make this type of deal more viable, though fatigue has caused us to underrate our own assets at this point.

Gleyber Torres is a top-five trade value play in the game of baseball. If the Los Angeles Dodgers come calling and want to pair him with Corey Seager and extend their homegrown talent, then they’re going to have to pay up.

Gavin Lux approached “top prospect in baseball” status entering this year, but Carter Kieboom’d all over himself when he briefly cameoed in MLB, unable to establish himself with the champs. Dustin May looked lights out in several of his postseason appearances, fallible in others, but is still considered to be a future top-of-the-rotation arm…which the Dodgers have plenty of (Julio Urias, Josiah Gray and Tony Gonsolin, to name a few).

It’s tough to adequately reconcile the trade value of a name you’d recently considered to be part of your next decade, but it’s going to take a far better return from LA for Torres than it did to secure one year of Mookie Betts. It’s possible that these two big names aren’t even enough, and a utility prospect like Zach McKinstry has to be thrown in to offset any worries about May’s projectability.

This one is the motherlode, but it just might be crazy enough to work.

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