Former New York Yankees All-Star Slugger Opens up on Tense Ending with Team

A former New York Yankees fan favorite opened up on the fact that things are tense between him and the team.

Oct 29, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres (25) reacts after hitting a three run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth inning during game four of the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees are going to look significantly different in numerous areas this upcoming season than they did last year.

One of those areas is the second base position after Gleyber Torres left via free agency and signed a lucrative one-year contract with a potential threat to the Yankees in the Detroit Tigers. After two incredibly strong seasons to begin his career in 2018 and 2019, Torres never quite took took the next step into superstardom like he appeared bound for.

Throughout his tenure however, while he was always at the least serviceable — and sometimes great — on offense, defense was a major issue. In 2024, Torres was rated by numerous metrics as the worst defensive second baseman in all of baseball.

New York tried to address this at the trade deadline when they made a deal with the Miami Marlins for Jazz Chisholm Jr., and the original plan was for Chisholm to play his natural position of second base and Torres to move over to third, another area which was a disaster this season for the Yankees.

At the time of the deal, Torres fairly openly stated to the media he had no interest in switching spots and since he's left the team, it's been confirmed by Brian Cashman that Torres outright refused the change and a war of words has since commenced.

Asked about the drama with New York at Tigers camp, Torres shed some light on the situation and essentially stated he's moving on.

"To be honest, I don’t know what’s going on there,” Torres said via Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. “I believed everything was good, but [now] I think no. So I don’t want to give any comments...Whatever they have, they have. I’m just focusing on my goals this year, how to get better and help my team."

Throughout his career with the team which spanned seven seasons, Torres hit 138 home runs and 441 RBI, slashing .265/.334/.441 for an OPS of .774 and OPS+ of 112. Given that he was a fan favorite, it's unfortunate both he and the Yankees appear to have animosity towards each other.

There was no world where the Yankees were going to try to bring Torres back, but it's likely he would have chosen to leave even if New York made an offer with a chance to stay at his natural position.

Chisholm is likely to take over at second this year in what was the original plan, leaving the Yankees no choice but to at least give DJ LeMahieu a chance to earn his job back at third.

Time will tell whether or not New York regrets not trying to bring back Torres, but it's safe to say things didn't end well between the two-time All-Star and the Yankees