Yankees welcome Gleyber Torres back from COVID IL with hilarious gift

Right around the same time the New York Yankees lost Gleyber Torres to the COVID-IL — their first and only player to miss time in 2021 thus far, despite a bizarre team-wide outbreak among vaccinated staffers — the entire rest of the offense decided to follow him.

Shortly after Torres left the team and self-isolated, Giancarlo Stanton hit the IL with lingering leg soreness, Aaron Hicks found out his wrist injury might require surgery, and Clint Frazier’s “neck thing” became the new Foot Stuff.

As always, it became difficult to tell the Yankees apart from the walking wounded.

And Torres’ “Welcome Back” gift from his teammates certainly won’t help things.

Though his mandatory quarantine didn’t quite last 10 days (thanks to Torres’ vaccination, he was able to return with multiple negative tests), the Yankees didn’t take any chances upon his return to the team.

Sure, Gleyber, you can stay. But you’ve got to wear this.

The Yankees bought Gleyber Torres a hazmat suit after he returned from the COVID IL.

That’s the best kind of present you can give a teammate. Why? Well, he can’t legally re-gift it. CDC regulations. Sorry, Gleyb, you’re stuck with it.

Along with the suit, the Yankees presented their starting shortstop with excess sanitizer and a pile of masks, in case he wants to feel more protected in the clubhouse despite already reportedly contacting the coronavirus twice this year.

Maybe that’s why the Yankees went all out with this present? They’d like to protect themselves from Torres, who seems to have done what the government has deemed impossible: two infections, one post-vaccination. Shuddering.

We think Torres will take whatever he can get as long as it comes with social interaction and a role in the starting lineup, though, considering how bored he seemed to be getting while stuck in Tampa. A few days into isolation, Torres hit us with the saddest Instagram story possible: the lonely skeleton who taps his own bones.

Luckily, there was a swift resolution to this problem.

Hopefully Torres gets his timing back before too long and returns to the groove he was starting to find just before he left.

The kid socked his first home run of the season on Sunday, May 9 and didn’t return until Wednesday. Clearly, there are some more dingers to bash…from a six-foot distance.

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