The Yankees reportedly were pursuing shortstop Trevor Story before deciding that the asking price from the Rockies was too high, and pivoted to Anthony Rizzo instead.
Had the Yanks landed Story, the team would have shifted Gleyber Torres back to shortstop and DJ LeMahieu to first base, which would have addressed the defensive deficiency that Torres has been at short since taking over the everyday role following Didi Gregorius’ exit after the 2019 season.
Shortstop is Torres’ original position, but after posting a -9 defensive runs saved last season, he is currently at -8 this year, while making 14 errors, the most in his career. To make matters worse, Torres’ hitting has drastically dwindled since moving back to shortstop, including an alarming disappearance of power.
Brian Cashman, who hinted that Torres may have been out of shape heading into last year, told Carton and Roberts on Tuesday that he is still a believer in the 24-year-old Torres, despite posting a lowly .683 OPS over the last two seasons.
“It’s hard to say,” Cashman said when asked why Torres has regressed. “I think the talent is all still there. I think Gleyber is a manifestation of a lot of guys we gave that at least for the first four months, haven’t been what you’re normally used to seeing. Not all of them, but we have a collection of people, for a period of time, haven’t had the years they hoped or expected, but there’s time on the clock.”
Torres does have more time to end the season strong, but there have been no signs that he is rediscovering his power stroke. After hitting 62 home runs over his first two seasons, both All-Star campaigns, Torres has hit just nine in his last 136 games, including only six this season. His slugging percentage this year is just .340, a disturbing decline after mashing 38 home runs in 2019.
Despite exploring a move that would move Torres to a less demanding defensive position, Cashman still feels Torres has the potential to break out of this prolonged slump, like many other Yankee hitters who have had surprisingly underwhelming seasons so far.
“There’s a famous quote that Reggie Jackson said, I have a sign in my office,” Cashman said. “Reggie said, because he was a prolific strikeout hitter as we all know…when he had his first two or three at-bats in the game that were bad, as long as he had the bat in his hand, he had the chance to change that narrative.
“At the end of the day, all of our guys here, us collectively as a team and an organization, have a chance to change that narrative because we still have the bat in our hand or the ball in our hand. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a COVID wave or an injury hit, they’re gonna have a chance to continue to fight and compete the rest of the way to prove they belong in October. Let’s hope our team rises to the occasion.”
Torres has shown a glimmer of improvement, posting an .810 OPS with three of his six home runs this season coming in the last 20 games, while batting .284. He went 2-for-3 with a double on Tuesday night, but in a larger sample size, Torres’ decline has been concerning, and while Cashman still believes in Torres’ ability to bounce back, that didn’t stop him for exploring options to move him out of the shortstop position.
“I had my hands in every cookie jar out there looking for opportunities, whether it was upgrading the roster in any shape or form, outfield, infield, starting rotation, bullpen, or farm system,” Cashman said. “So we had a lot of dialogue going. The things we were able to produce, we’re happy with and are excited by, but you’re always looking to do the most you possibly can, so there’s opportunities we did pursue on other avenues, but we just weren’t able to match up or be the best match.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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