New York Star Wants to Be a ‘Yankee for Life’, But Does He Deserve It?

Gleyber Torres has played every game of his MLB career with the New York Yankees, and if he had it his way, he'd play the rest of his games with them, too.

Torres spoke with reporters on Wednesday during the team's spring training camp, and made the declaration that he'd like to remain with the New York Yankees for the rest of his career.

Get our free mobile app

He admitted that he understood the business side of the game, and that a part of him was preparing to play his final season in The Bronx. That all said, his desire is to remain with the Yankees, and based on a report from the NY Daily News' Gary Phillips, he may be willing to take a discount in order to stay.

So, Torres wants to remain in New York. Does he deserve that chance?

Let's examine.

Gleyber Torres: The Good

In 2023, Torres played 158 games, one behind Anthony Volpe for the team lead. He hit 25 home runs (2nd most on the team), drove in 68 runs (2nd), walked 67 times (2nd), and hit for a .273 average (leader among qualifying players).

For all intents and purposes, Torres was New York's 2nd best player on offense last year, behind Aaron Judge. He carries a career .267 batting average, and has played 140 or more games in four of the last five (non-COVID-shortened) seasons.

Gleyber Torres: The Bad

Then, we transition to the fielding and baserunning sides of the game, and that's where we find issues. Torres made 15 errors last season, and as a team, New York led the majors in errors at the second base position.

Keep in mind, the year before, he only made seven errors at the position, and finished with nine defensive runs saved above average, an analytic that helps to evaluate fielders.

Still he regressed on defense, and the base-running mistakes began to mount up as well. Simple mistakes like forgetting how many outs there are in an inning have kept Torres from truly being embraced in New York.

Gleyber Torres: The Verdict

Despite the defensive inefficiencies last year, I still believe that Torres is worth keeping around. Spotrac lists Torres' market value as seven years and $130 million (and change), which would pay him roughly $18.7 million per season.

If you plan on keeping Juan Soto, you'll likely want Torres to take less money than that. I would be offering either a five or six-year contract, with a value as close to $15 million per year as possible.

Long story short, I'd be working to keep him around if I were Brian Cashman.