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Yankees All-Star Bolts for $15 Million Deal With Rising A.L. Contender

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Yankees 2B Gleyber Torres is leaving the Bronx.
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Yankees 2B Gleyber Torres is leaving the Bronx.

It was a year of ups and downs for Yankees former All-Star second baseman Gleyber Torres, who had a woeful start to 2024, was dragged down by plays in which he failed to hustle and ultimately had his fate sealed as a player the Yankees would jettison in free agency, despite a strong finish to the year.

On Friday, it became official: Torres is out, signing a new deal with the Detroit Tigers, a team that is quietly building on the success it established in 2024, when the team rallied to finish 86-76 and earn a playoff spot. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the deal.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported that the contract is one year and $15 million.

The move brings an end to what was a promising Yankees career for Torres. as he was an All-Star in each of his first two seasons in the Bronx, knocking 62 homers in those seasons and putting together OPS marks of .820 or more.

Yankees Were Done With Gleyber Torres

But Torres failed to live up to his early production from there. He never seemed to bounce back after he was out of shape and prone to injuries during the 2020 Covid-19 season, and injuries continued to hold him back in subsequent years. He struggled to be consistent with fielding and hustling out plays, which caused Yankees management to seek an upgrade.

Even Aaron Boone, one of the staunchest player managers in MLB, called out Torres’ lack of effort this year, and benched him last season for failure to run out balls. His failure to run out a would-be double–he thought he had a home run and loafed his way to a single–in August cost the Yankees a run in a tight loss back in August, and Boone pulled Torres from the game on the spot.

Now, the Yankees will be on the lookout for how to finish off their infield, which is set at first base with newly signed Paul Goldschmidt, and will return young shortstop Anthony Volpe for next season. Jazz Chisholm will likely play second base in place of Torres, though he could return to third base, where he filled in after arriving from the Marlins at the trade deadline.

The Yankees have been linked to veteran free agent Alex Bregman and disgruntled Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado. Acquiring either would put a cap on what has been a successful Yankees offseason, despite the loss of Juan Soto to the Mets.

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including "Fun City," "Before Wrigley became Wrigley," and "Facing Michael Jordan." More about Sean Deveney

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Yankees All-Star Bolts for $15 Million Deal With Rising A.L. Contender

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