The Yankees reportedly did not extend the qualifying offer to Gleyber Torres, according to ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan.
Per Passan, Juan Soto was the lone Yankee to receive the $21.05 million qualifying offer (which he certainly will reject), but the team did not extend the same to its second baseman, which struggled offensively for much of the season before turning it on to become one of the team’s most reliable bats in the playoffs.
Torres, soon to be 28 years old, is hitting free agency for the first time in his career, and while the lack of a qualifying offer doesn’t prohibit him from returning to the Bronx, it does signal that the Yanks don’t see Torres as worth much more than the $14.2 million he earned in 2024.
Torres got off to a miserable start this season, but enjoyed a hot September to help him finish with a .257 batting average and .709 OPS with 15 home runs, barely above league average. He hit .297 with an .832 OPS through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and while he cooled off in the World Series, he did have a multi-hit game in the series opener and crushed a three-run home run in game four to help avoid a sweep.
Should Torres sign elsewhere this winter, he will be remembered as a hyped prospect who looked like a budding superstar after his 38-homer outburst in 2019, his second straight All-Star season, only to decline rapidly in the years afterward, failing to post an OPS above .800 in any season since. His baserunning and defense have also been issues, as he was benched by Aaron Boone earlier in the season for not hustling home, and his failure to field a shorthop from the outfield in game one of the World Series allowed the tying run to advance to third in the eighth inning, a run that scored and set up Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam.
Still, Torres represents offensive value, even with his prolonged slump in 2024. He was one of the best offensive second baseman in the American League in 2023, and the Yankees’ best hitter outside of Aaron Judge. But the Yankees don’t seem to think that his production is worth over $20 million.