Gleyber Torres' comments (and Tigers contract details) show Yankees were fully done

When Gleyber Torres signed with the Detroit Tigers on Friday, his long expected departure from the New York Yankees became official. Once believed to be a franchise player back in 2018, Torres became more and more stale with each passing year from 2020-2024.

The Yankees had already tried to trade him multiple times, famously attempting to move him at the 2022 midsummer deadline, which completely torpedoed his play that season and nearly led to New York blowing a 15.5-game division lead to the Tampa Bay Rays (something he admitted after the fact).

However, Torres experienced a bit of a resurgence in 2024. From mid-August through the end of the year he served as the team's leadoff hitter and found his rhythm again. He played a role in saving the offense and sparking the Yankees' run to the World Series. As a result, many wondered if he'd get the qualifying offer when the offseason was set to arrive. Some of his fans even dreamed of an ill-advised contract extension.

But the Yankees opted for neither. Torres sat and sat in free agency until the Tigers signed him to a one-year, $15 million contract. That had many Yankees fans wondering why there wasn't a stronger possibility he'd return to New York.

Torres spoke to the media after joining his new team and revealed that the Yankees had never made an offer, probably indicating there were no talks whatsoever.

Yankees had no interest in reunion with Gleyber Torres in free agency

Not only did they not make an offer, but they had no interest at this price point, which ended up being $6 million less than the 2025 qualifying offer of $21.05 million. It was also just $800K more than what Torres made in 2024. If the Tigers made this happen, couldn't a simple phone call from the Yankees have sealed the deal?

Turns out, the Yankees were done — albeit 2-3 years too late — and are fully looking to turn the page after Juan Soto's departure in free agency. Torres joined Clay Holmes, Anthony Rizzo, Alex Verdugo, Jose Trevino and Nestor Cortes as former Yankees who the team couldn't wait to be done with after their inconsistent/poor showings in 2024 (and/or declining play over the last few seasons).

The Yankees might have realized too little, too late, but they knew they had to conduct some sort of an overhaul if they wanted to be better off in 2025 and beyond. They traded both Trevino and Cortes for bullpen help. They swapped Rizzo for Paul Goldschmidt. They imported Devin Williams as a far superior version of Holmes. They're going to roll the dice with Jasson Dominguez as Verdugo's replacement (how much worse can it get?).

As for Torres, there's no fill in for him at the moment, which pretty much says it all. The Yankees' incomplete infield picture will need either a new second or third baseman, depending on what they're going to do with Jazz Chisholm. But with Chisholm, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza all capable of playing second base, the Yankees knew they could make do without Torres. They could save money, improve defensively, and welcome a new era instead of the largely unsuccessful one they played on repeat with Torres for five years.

Yankees fans wish him well, but this felt like a long time coming, and if you paid close enough attention you probably knew it was going to end in this manner.