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Yankees: 4 players who should be traded this offseason

Luke Voit #59 of the New York Yankees celebrates with teammate Gleyber Torres #25 after scoring during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Sahlen Field on September 07, 2020 in Buffalo, New York. The Blue Jays are the home team and are playing their home games in Buffalo due to the Canadian government’s policy on coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
Luke Voit #59 of the New York Yankees celebrates with teammate Gleyber Torres #25 after scoring during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Sahlen Field on September 07, 2020 in Buffalo, New York. The Blue Jays are the home team and are playing their home games in Buffalo due to the Canadian government’s policy on coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
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Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)

1. Gleyber Torres

Do we want to “give up” on 24-year-old Gleyber Torres? Not really! But what has he shown any of us over the past two seasons (that pretty much translated into one full year)?

For starters, he made it loud and clear that he doesn’t respond to criticism well. He continued to play worse and worse despite unsavory comments from general manager Brian Cashman, the media and the fans.

Secondly, his power disappeared. Taking over a new position affected his mental state so significantly that he hit just 12 home runs in his last 595 at-bats compared to 62 in 977 previous at-bats. His average dropped between 15-20 points. The only thing that remained constant was his OBP, which, again, isn’t what this team needs.

Lastly, there were at least three instances in which Torres was caught not hustling down the first base line when running out grounders and strikeouts. Two prompted responses from the manager when asked by the media. That’s at LEAST one too many. For as bad Torres was on both sides of the ball, the last thing he should’ve been in the spotlight for was a lack of motivation/dedication.

He started to turn things around a bit when he was moved back to second base with a few weeks left in the season, but in the eyes of many, the damage was already done based on the aforementioned occurrences. Falling off in this manner in a market such as New York typically isn’t conducive to an all-time recovery or comeback for the ages.

Since DJ LeMahieu is untradeable and Gio Urshela will likely remain at third base given his cost-effective price, it’s probably best the Yankees bring back Rizzo, go get a high-priced shortstop, and see what they can get in return for Torres, who would still likely be very attractive to suitors on the trade market. This would allow (dare we say) the Yankees to actually play everybody at their natural positions.

Some people are made for New York. Some aren’t. Torres strikes us (all of a sudden) as the latter, and the Yankees cannot be afraid of the possibility of him succeeding elsewhere. It just doesn’t matter at this point. His lackluster play has cost the team better postseason positioning over the last two years and the grand plan of him taking over at shortstop has failed. Moving on from Torres would signal a much-needed breath of fresh air after a whole lot of insistence by the Yankees front office to “stick to their plan,” which didn’t really have much of a definitive direction anyway.

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