What might be Gleyber Torres’s final season with the New York Yankees is swiftly turning into a nightmare.
After a particularly dismal performance in a 9-7 loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone chose to sit his slumping second baseman, who is still struggling with groin tightness. Not only is Torres out of Wednesday’s lineup, but Boone added that he may be gone for a few of days.
“I just felt like he needs it,” Boone stated to the media. “I might give him a couple days here, just to basically reset. I just believe he’s too important, and a guy that I’m convinced will get going, but it’s been a grind, it’s been a fight, and I think he’s feeling it a little bit.
“I believe it’s hopefully something that will serve him well, mentally and physically, to just take a breath and then work to get him moving. Because when he’s going, like we’ve all seen him go, he’s a pretty vital piece to the lineup.”
Torres’s groin soreness is likewise seemingly a non-issue, according to Boone.
“No, he’s good,” Boone responded. “He came out with a little bit of a groin issue [or] hip, but it’s nothing that’s significant.”
With Torres looking fine from a physical aspect, this contradicts that his groin was “very tight” when he didn’t hustle to first base following an eighth-inning groundout. Boone also acknowledged that the lack of hustle throughout the play served a factor in his decision to rest Torres. “That certainly got my attention,” he added.
According to the New York Post, Boone visited with Torres after Tuesday’s game to discuss his bad performance. The next day, Boone let him know that he wouldn’t be in the lineup, a decision that Torres “respected”.
The season has been a terrible grind for Torres, who is hitting a paltry .215/.294/.333 with just seven home runs in 80 games; he has just two hits in his last 36 plate appearances and an 83 wRC+ on the year.
Aaron Boone says Gleyber Torres "respects the decision" of him being out of the lineup tonight: pic.twitter.com/Ju6BfCNCKA
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 26, 2024
Tuesday was the breaking point, as Torres went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts (including one with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the first game) and a costly fielding error in the sixth inning that led to three runs (two earned). The error was his 12th on the season, which leads all second basemen in the majors, and prompted a Mets rally that proved to be the deciding margin.
potentially worse is that Torres is a free agent after the season; based on his terrible performance so far, this could be his final year in pinstripes and can potentially cost the 27-year-old a long-term contract from rival teams.
Regardless, Boone’s decision to bench Torres seems to be with good intentions, so maybe this physical and mental break helps the former All-Star second baseman begin to perform at the level he’s accustomed to.
This post was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/yankees as Yankees Bench Struggling All-Star Amid Prolonged Slump.
