1. Gleyber Torres
Many fans lobbied for Gleyber Torres to be off the roster by the time 2022 arrived, but the Yankees instead granted him a third year after his dreadful 2020 and 2021 seasons and moved him back to second base. It appeared to work for a few months. That is, until the inevitable reared its ugly head.
Torres’ mental lapses have been spectacularly bad on the defensive end. His lack of hustle has also been made prevalent far too many times for a guy who’s already been questioned for such an undesirable trait. And finally, his offensive regression has been different kinds of disappointing for three years.
Want to give him a pass for 2020? Fair! But tell us where you see much of a difference with these numbers:
- 2021 (127 games) – .259/.331/.366 with 50 runs scored, 9 homers, 51 RBI, 104 strikeouts
- 2022 (115 games) – .242/.292/.423 with 56 runs scored, 18 homers, 50 RBI, 102 strikeouts
Slight power improvement, same average-to-below-average play. Following his first two All-Star campaigns in 2018 and 2019, Torres has failed to respond to adversity of all kinds: position switches, injuries to other impactful offensive players, and dealing with tough media criticism. His best play came during the Yankees’ sweat-free 52-18 start. Then the team started slipping, and he slipped even further.
Torres is No. 1 here because he was supposed to be a franchise cornerstone. Not only did he fail to live up to that billing (admittedly, it’s tough when you have that promising a start to a career), but he’s adversely responded with hustle/body language issues and an inability to deliver timely hits (especially over the last two-plus years as a whole).
Much like Gary Sánchez, Torres was supposed to give the Yankees a “unique” advantage at a position that’s generally weak across MLB. Instead, he’s now one of those middle-of-the-road stat guys that don’t stand out, and his inability to star in — or even lengthen — the Yankees lineup on a consistent basis will further drive this offense into the ground when the games start to matter even more.
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