Yankees: Gleyber Torres posts cryptic IG story after ‘hustling’ drama

For the first time in a long time, a simple search of “Gleyber Torres story” will get you results beyond a fantasy league-esque Yankees–Rockies trade for Colorado’s shortstop.

Wednesday’s sleepy loss to the Braves represented a new low in Torres’ season, mostly due to the swirling and angry discourse surrounding his performance in a game that was tough for everyone.

At this point, there is nothing to be gained from arguing about Torres’ supposed “lack of hustle” on a short grounder late in a cold game. Eyewash could’ve gotten him injured. Simply running in this weather did get Gio Urshela injured a few innings earlier.

There’s nothing intelligent to be said here. The entire offense is non-functional, and focusing on this minutiae is silly.

In the game’s aftermath, though, Torres surely went home and read pages of social media backlash against him. Already mired in a rut, the (temporary?) shortstop dug deeper, it would seem, hopefully charting the course for a comeback and not setting us all up for something more upsetting.

The 24-year-old took to Instagram (where else?) late-night after the Yankees fell to 6-11, and posted a message that proves the criticism is finding him.

Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres posted a tough message on Instagram.

It’s been extremely difficult to stay “positive,” sure, but some of the Torres discourse — especially in the wake of Wednesday’s game — was so negative it doesn’t even deserve to be amplified.

And we’re talking about long reads from reporters, not fan screeds.

How could you not feel like the baseball world was closing in on you after being forced to read Andy Martino on how you should be demoted to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre?

In this awful scenario, the Yankees’ starting shortstop would be…Tyler Wade? Who does that benefit?

Bottom line, it’s always seemed like the Yankees lacked faith in Torres at short, and accepted the move only because they tripped into DJ LeMahieu and were unable to shake him from the roster once he became essential.

How will the team deal with the positional logjam this offseason? Will they go for Trevor Story or Corey Seager? We’re 17 games in, and as painful as they’ve been, there’s no way to determine next steps based on a complete offensive meltdown.

If this entire team is the worst offensive team in baseball against fastballs in the zone all year? Then yeah, some changes might need to be made. Until then, let’s try a little positivity.

Yankees: Possible replacements for Aaron Boone as manager

Given the poor performance of the New York Yankees thus far, it is not unreasonable to begin contemplating who could be the next manager.