The Detroit Tigers have had an offseason that ranks somewhere in the middle of expectations coming in, while they did not land one of the highest-tier premier free agents on the market, they have brought in multiple quality starters. One of those players is former New York Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres, who signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Tigers back in December.
In recent weeks, Torres has come out to discuss his time with the Yankees, and in many cases, how he feels spurned by his former team and how they treated him entering the offseason. This would continue in an exclusive by Dan Martin of the New York Post (subscription required). In this piece, Torres would be quoted as stating the following:
“I feel I deserve to be with an organization that wants me, I’m here now and that’s the reason I’m here.”
Then, when he was asked if he felt that New York no longer wanted him, he said, “I don’t know. Maybe you can ask him.”
The “him” in this discussion being Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.
As tough as that may be for the other team involved, Detroit seems to have been on the good end of the process, as they landed a quality hitter and infielder who can provide some much needed experience to a young core around the diamond. All three projected starters in the infield aside from Torres are currently under 25 years of age with a season or less of service time, including Colt Keith, Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney.
With prospects being called up sooner than ever in recent years, having strong veteran presences who can help coaching show them the ropes, and give them some of the wisdom they have acquired over their years at the MLB level is a crucial step towards team development. With Torres coming in this year, he slots in as the player with the most service time among the batting rotation, with six full seasons plus some extra games.
Despite 2024 not being his best season production wise, he did still have a solid year overall, putting up .257/.330/.378 slash lines, with 63 RBI, 80 runs, 15 home runs, and 136 strikeouts to 65 walks. His fielding has been where problems arise however, leading the MLB in errors in both of the last two seasons with 18 in 2024 and 15 in 2023. Cleaning that up will be paramount to earning another contract beyond this season, whether it be with a new team or a re-signing.
It will be intriguing to see what else comes of this situation and if Torres continues to speak out against his former team, however, he has already made it clear how he feels at multiple junctures during the offseason.
