Inside The Pinstripes

These Teams Inquired About Yankees' Gleyber Torres Ahead of Trade Deadline

Torres was reportedly involved in trade discussions between the Yankees and some other teams leading up to Tuesday's deadline.

Max Goodman

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The Yankees traded away a member of their starting rotation on Tuesday before the trade deadline, shipping Jordan Montgomery to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for outfielder Harrison Bader.

If trading one big-league piece was shocking, imagine if they parted ways with another as well.

New York reportedly discussed a few trades involving second baseman Gleyber Torres all the way up to the deadline on Tuesday evening. 

Jack Curry of YES Network was first to mention that Torres was potentially a trade chip for this club, a piece that didn't end up getting moved. Now that the dust has settled, even more details have emerged.

Craig Mish and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported on Wednesday that Torres was a name raised in conversations between the Yankees and Marlins, part of negotiations over a possible Pablo López trade. López, Miami's No. 2 starter, ended up staying put. 

Miami wasn't the only team that inquired about Torres. The phenom's name popped up in preliminary trade talks with the Nationals regarding Juan Soto before the superstar ended up with the Padres, per Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media. 

Kuty added that Torres was mentioned in conversations with the Brewers about closer Josh Hader, before he was also dealt to San Diego.

These rumors don't necessarily mean the Yankees were actively shopping Torres. It doesn't mean the team was truly willing to trade him away either. The idea of Torres being traded is an interesting one, though, a move that would've shaken up the playing time equation for the rest of this season (and opened up a spot for a top prospect as well).

If Torres did get moved, DJ LeMahieu would've taken over as the full-time second baseman. He's bounced around on the infield this year, appearing at first, second and third. With LeMahieu sticking at second more often, Josh Donaldson would've continued to play every day at third. You have to figure Matt Carpenter would've started to make more appearances in the infield as well in a fifth infielder type role—he's been playing in the outfield more than anything recently, helping to fill in for Giancarlo Stanton during the slugger's stint on the injured list. 

Further, with no Torres, perhaps the Yankees would've called up No. 2 prospect Oswald Peraza to get some big-league reps over the final few months of the season. Peraza and No. 1 prospect Anthony Volpe are both shortstops, so if they both stay in the organization for years to come, which is the plan considering New York made an effort not to trade them away at this year's deadline, then one will need to make the transition to another spot on the infield.

Peraza is knocking on the door of a promotion, playing in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Volpe is a little further away, currently suiting up for Somerset in Double-A.

Keep this in mind heading into this winter as New York begins to make more tweaks to their roster. Torres is having a resurgent season after a couple down years—he's hitting .257/.312/.466 with 16 home runs in 2022—but he's under team control for only two more seasons. Again, with those prospects inching closer, New York will need to make a decision on Torres' future in the not-so-distant future. 

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Yankees for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. Goodman has been on the Yankees beat for three seasons. He is also the publisher of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Jets site, Jets Country. Before starting Inside The Pinstripes, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. At school, Goodman was an anchor and reporter with NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. While at Northwestern, Goodman interned with MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. You can connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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