The shortstop position was a glaring area of concern for the Yankees in 2021, with Gleyber Torres struggling badly to settle into what had been his primary position early in his career.
The 24-year-old committed 18 errors in 108 games at shortstop, posting a -10 defensive runs saved before being moved back to second base later in the season. That led to general manager Brian Cashman admitting on Monday that the experiment of Torres as the regular shortstop was a failure, and the team will be moving in a different direction for the 2022 campaign.
“It’s not necessarily easy to assess or wrongfully assess where that position is at,” Cashman said. “Once we re-signed DJ LeMahieu, it solidified a really good player at that position in Gleyber Torres going into the 2021 season but didn’t turn out the way we hoped. Given that circumstance, without question, as I enter 2022, I need to upgrade that position from a defensive standpoint, and that concession clearly took place in season when we moved Gio [Urshela] over to short and had [Andrew] Velazquez come up.”
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Simply put, Cashman sees Torres as a regular second baseman moving forward.
“I think Gleyber is best served at second base in reality, and we’ll see where that takes us,” Cashman said. “But it’s definitely an area of need for us.”
With Torres arbitration eligible and LeMahieu early on in his new six-year deal, the infield shifts will be a big topic this offseason. Luke Voit and Gio Urshela are two corner infielders that are both arbitration eligible, but the free agent class at shortstop is more stacked than ever, from Carlos Correa to Corey Seager and Trevor Story. Cashman will almost certainly be in that position after not making an upgrade this past summer.
“We did talk at the trade deadline and tried to match up with different circumstances to also solve that and get that push,” Cashman said. “I failed at that endeavor there, so I have another crack at that this winter.”
Another area the Yanks could potentially look to upgrade is at the catcher position, where Gary Sanchez improved at the plate but once again fell well short of the historic output he produced through the first two years of his career. Sanchez’s future with the franchise was very much in question after his struggles in 2020 led to a postseason benching, and entering his final year of arbitration, it appears his future in pinstripes is again an uncertainty.
“We’ll see. In Gary’s case, I think he definitely came a long way defensively with a lot of hard work put in,” Cashman said. “He tailed off towards the end on that aspect. He’s one of the better offensive catchers in the game, but ultimately, we will have to evaluate the marketplace at every position that we clearly have a player at, and if there’s something that makes sense, we have to take careful consideration.
“I know Gary has worked his tail off and been committed. I know at times the results might not be there, but I’m proud that we’ve got a guy with a lot of heart and a lot of care…he worked his tail off all year and put himself in position to be an improved player for us.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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