Gleyber Torres was in New York on Tuesday night.
Where he will end up by the start of next season remains an open question.
The second baseman has had many ups and downs in his career with the Yankees since being acquired as part of the trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs in 2016, but he is now a free agent for the first time in his career.
“I'm waiting to hear back,” Torres said Tuesday while accepting an award from Cipriani Wall Street's Cristian Rivera Foundation for raising awareness of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
When asked if he wanted to stay in the Bronx, Torres said, “I've been playing here since 2018. I have family here. I know everyone in the organization, but at the end of the day, this is a business. , I can't control that. Let's see what happens in the next few months.”
Despite an impressive road to the World Series, the Yankees are not ready to move on from Torres after a disastrous first half of the 2024 season and a continuation of the mental mistakes Torres has made throughout his career. It seems like it is.
Brian Cashman had this to say about Torres during a GM meeting in San Antonio last week. Obviously, he's going to have a lot of conversations with a lot of teams that have needs in that area, and that might include us, you never know. but [we] We appreciate his efforts while he is here. ”
That wouldn't prevent the Yankees from bringing back the second baseman, who turns 28 next month, but the team could move Jazz Chisholm Jr. from third base and find a new third baseman.
Torres deleted the Yankees from his social media accounts, which is not unusual for players entering the open market.
“Right now I'm a free agent,” Torres said. “I'm not in the organization. I think I'm in a good position.”
Although his offensive output has declined this season, Torres still has upside on that front and has been linked to Toronto and other teams.
If Torres is acquired elsewhere, the Yankees could turn to minor league prospect Caleb Durbin, who is coming off a strong season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and performing well in the Arizona Fall League. There is also.
Durbin, 24, has struggled to stay healthy and has never played more than 105 games in a professional season.
As one talent evaluator noted, Durbin has great speed and bat-to-ball skill, but “time is running out” in terms of putting it all together.
Durbin plays second base, third base and shortstop as well as the outfield, so he could be used in a variety of roles.
Durbin has sometimes been compared to San Diego's Luis Arraez in terms of his ability to put the ball in play.
Aaron Boone said on Monday's Zoom call that he thinks Durbin will “play a big role for us” in 2025 and will “put himself in that conversation” when it comes to the starting job.
But as the Yankees have learned previously from Oswaldo Peraza, relying on a prospect to contribute at the major league level is not a guarantee.
If the team moves on from Torres, he said of his time in New York, “I feel like I did a good thing and I'm happy to have played for the Yankees during that time.”
