NY sports insider drops NSFW critique of Yankees' Gleyber Torres

Joel Sherman of the New York Post has been especially fiery (and on point) in the wake of the Yankees' 2023 disaster. He was the one who did a good deal of the prodding that led to Brian Cashman's "pretty f***ing good" GM Meetings rant, after all.

And if you thought a hot start would stop his valid criticism in its tracks, you don't know Sherman. The Yankees have put themselves in a solid position. They've banked some wins against some high-caliber opponents, as well as the Astros, who are somehow 6-14. But some cracks remain, Gleyber Torres' poor offense and freelancing defense are chief among them.

The Yankees' infield defense may have saved the day and made Aaron Boone look smart Wednesday in Toronto, but Torres still hasn't arrived and been a major part of the action (though his single helped keep a ninth-inning rally going in the Jays finale, too).

Anthony Rizzo may be the most glaring deficiency to date, but there certainly appears to be an obvious driving factor in his unsteadiness. The concussion he suffered last season robbed him of his reaction time at the plate. Why wouldn't playing through it for two months last summer continue to affect both his glove and his confidence?

Sherman questioned Rizzo's decline in his most recent rant, but he turned his ire mainly on Torres, who should be better than this -- and more careful.

"The play against Cleveland with the infield in doesn't bother me nearly as much as the one he threw away on the double play the day before," Sherman began,"because that falls into what I've called -- annually -- 'Gleyber Torres fantasy camp'."

Joel Sherman targets Yankees' Gleyber Torres with ire for "fantasy camp" defense

"I am not anti-style," Sherman continued. "The ball goes out of the stadium, you want to flip a bat, do 10 cartwheels, crawl around the bases, I do not give a f***. Do whatever you want. But when the ball's in play ... and you want to do style ... the style better work."

The infield in play, which led directly to Sunday's loss in extras? He was moving quickly and made an error. It was clunky. It was painful. But it was in the flow of the action. Saturday's sidearm throw, which could've undone a lot of hard work and made the three-game losing streak that began Sunday look even worse? Less forgivable.

Sherman nailed this assessment, and there's no doubt the Yankees will harbor similar thoughts about the player Torres is and will always be when it comes time to evaluate him in free agency.