Not long into her show on Saturday night, Danielle McCartan had a caller discussing Gleyber Torres’ level of effort, and she noted that as even a weekend warrior athlete like herself knows, the one thing you can always control in any situation is your effort.
That said, during her open, Danielle wondered if Gleyber is getting the short end of the stick – perhaps, as Pete Hoffman had surmised about 16 hours earlier, as a scapegoat for a team-wide problem – but is he really that?
Danielle played the audio of Torres’ post-game interview about his benching Friday night, and….
“Is this a Gleyber Torres problem, or is this a Yankees problem? Because, you know, he's not the only one who doesn't hustle and dogs it on the base paths at times, and the other that comes to mind immediately is Giancarlo Stanton,” she said. “And if you're asking me, I'm gonna give you the answer anyway: I’m saying this is a Torres issue.”
After calling Stanton “Glass Man,” well, that gave away why he, at least, gets a pass.
“Stanton, it’s correlated to ‘injury,’” Danielle said. “It's definitely not correlated to want to, in my eyes. Torres, it’s a want-to thing for me, and I think he thinks that the trade deadline has passed, he's still a Yankee, so he could take his foot off the gas a little bit. He's feeling comfortable again and that's not a good spot to be in. Comfortable Gleyber is a distraction, and not good for this team.”
Okay, great, but here’s what’s even worse: if that is truly the case, why was he allowed to play Saturday?
“Put it into a larger context: does this controversy, and this attitude, have the propensity to pop the bubble of these Yankees’ World Series dreams here in 2024?” she asked. “I say no, but I don’t like at all how Gleyber was allowed to be in Saturday’s lineup. Like, what kind of messaging is being sent here in having Torres start today's game? I used the word comfortable, so for the other guys that are too comfortable or thinking of becoming too comfortable in pinstripes, what does that say to them?”
Danielle admits maybe she’s confused, but it looks like Aaron Boone is ‘fed up’ with Torres, and the only reason she can think of for Gleyber not being benched Saturday is an intervention from the Captain.
“The only thing I can think of is Captain Judge stepped in as a liaison to bridge the gap between manager and player, but I honestly hope that before they all talked to the media, Aaron Judge ripped into Torres,” Danielle said. “I hope it happened. ‘That stuff doesn't happen here’ is what I wanted to hear from the Captain, and maybe it did or didn’t happen, but then Judge turning around and assuring his manager that Torres was gonna be ready to go – did you see how far Judge walked out onto the plank after the game when he was asked about this situation?”
Danielle played the audio of Judge’s postgame and perseverated on ‘ain’t gonna happen again,’ because ‘that’s significant for someone who thoughtfully and carefully selects his words.’
“How about up the creek without a paddle territory? Judge went from a man who carefully selects his words – I’ve seen and heard it with my eyes and ears – to a man who went out on a plank for his teammate,” she said.
“Hopefully, he's right.”
Seems like Judge thinks Gleyber deserves the benefit of the doubt, as he’s ‘a sensitive man, in a good way’ who came out right away after Friday’s game…and maybe, ‘the embarrassment of being summoned to the top step in plain sight was ‘punishment’ enough.’
And that’s good, because…
“I have a feeling we witnessed on live TV an inflection point in a guy's career, and the only thing you could continue to watch throughout the rest of the season is who is Gleyber Torres over the rest of the season and into the postseason,” Danielle said. “The only problem I have with him is hustle, and I think Boone has had it with him too, but the truth is, the Yankees need him down the stretch. The trade deadline has passed, you can’t send him to the minors or DFA him, so you’re stuck with him. You might as well encourage him. If there’s one thing you can control as an athlete, it’s your level of effort, want-to, and grit – and that message to him, and to the team, from Aaron Boone was clear.”