Gleyber Torres takes another shot at Yankees to further emphasize toxic relationship

Add Gleyber Torres to the list of players who immediately grew a beard upon departing the New York Yankees. Most fans don't agree with the organization's hair policy (WHICH CHANGED ON FRIDAY!), but many would agree it's a tired act seeing so many of these guys waste no time boasting facial hair the second they are freed from the shackles.

More than anything, it's just a message the disgruntled former players send. Is some of that the Yankees' fault? Absolutely. But it was very much a two-way street between Torres and the team during his tenure in the Bronx.

Torres burst onto the scene his first two MLB seasons, but then regressed with each passing year. Nobody can pinpoint the undisputed reason why, but Torres wasn't exemplary with his body language, effort, or focus. For example, he never improved defensively. In fact, he got worse. His mental lapses never improved — another aspect of his game that continued to spiral.

The Yankees obviously didn't help that, either. They called him out publicly multiple times, most famously when he was out of shape heading into the 2020 season. For some reason, he was the only player disciplined for a lack of hustle when so many others blatantly disregarded Aaron Boone's directives. Torres was also dangled in trade rumors multiple times, only for it to adversely affect his play. The Yankees should've taken a clue and moved him to avoid further issue, but they instead let the relationship die on the vine.

Then came this offseason when Brian Cashman revealed what everybody already knew: Torres refused to move off second base after Jazz Chisholm was acquired at the trade deadline, further throwing the Yankees' imperfect roster for a loop. Torres already responded to that emphatically, but he added more when he arrived to Tigers spring training.

“To be honest, I don’t know what’s going on there,” Torres told MLB.com. “I was believing everything was good, but I think not. I don’t want to give any comments, just turn the page. Whatever they have, they have. I’m just focused on my goals this year to get better and help my team.”

Well, Gleyber, you already gave the comments! So now you're welcome to turn the page. So, please, let's do that, because we're all sick of this.

Two things can be true: Torres failed to be self-aware in the assessment that he was statistically the worst defensive second baseman in the league last year and was not a team player when the Yankees asked him to move; and the Yankees were spineless for letting Torres make the decision himself and then express resentment after the fact.

Two things can be true about all of the other issues these parties dealt with: It wasn't right for the Yankees to voice frustration with Torres on multiple occasions and dangle him in trade rumors that they knew would become public; but Torres could've better directed his anger and frustration rather than let it drastically affect his production.

This was a difficult relationship, one that borders on toxicity. Why the Yankees couldn't quit Torres after all the warning signs, we'll never know. They further dug their heels in and watched the whole thing go up in flames despite various opportunities to upgrade. Why Torres wanted to remain a Yankee despite all of the mistreatment and drama, we'll never know why.

Had Torres not been so territorial about playing second base — never forget, HE CAME UP AS A SHORTSTOP WHEN HE WAS A TOP PROSPECT! — and not completely folded after the well-documented plan to move to shortstop in 2020 after Didi Gregorious' departure, things could've been different. Had the Yankees communicated clearly and made an effort to either repair the relationship or expedite his departure, perhaps they'd be in a better place.

This just goes to show how the Yankees can never properly clean up a mess. Even the breakup lingers on and distracts from more important topics of conversation. All the best to Gleyber in 2025. Hoping for more fun Yankees spring training highlights. That is all.