Ex-Yankees All-Star Still Angry Over Departure From New York

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Mar 7, 2025 11:24 AM ET

Over the winter, the Yankees' fortunes took some pretty dramatic twists and turns. Things kicked off, of course, with the pursuit of outfielder Juan Soto, the star slugger for whom the team had paid a king's ransom the previous offseason, and who had helped fuel the Yankees' trip to the 2024 World Series.

Soto departed for the Mets' $765 million mega-offer, of course, forcing the Yankees to pivot to Plan B, which included adding outfielder Cody Bellinger, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, starter Max Fried and ace reliever Devin Williams.

But in the shuffle of those transactions came a move that was pretty clearly in the offing for the entirety of the 2024 season--the team would be moving on from second baseman Gleyber Torres, who was a free agent and had manned the position for the past seven years.

It was not a surprise, because Torres had struggled with the bat (.257 batting average) in 2024, and had been called out more than once by manager Aaron Boone for a failure to hustle.

But it is a surprise in the big picture, because in his first two seasons with the Yankees, it looked like Torres was in line to be one of the next great slugging infielders in the Bronx. He slashed .271/.340/.480 as a rookie and followed it up with .278/.337/.535 in Year Two.

Torres hit 62 homers and drove in 167 runs in those two seasons.

Now, suiting up for the Detroit Tigers, Torres expressed his anger with how things ended with the Yankees. In an article titled, "Gleyber Torres is still fuming over his Yankees exit," the New York Post had exclusive quotes from Torres.

“I feel I deserve to be with an organization that wants me,” Torres said. “I’m here now and that’s the reason I’m here.”

Torres has had some back-and-forth with GM Brian Cashman, who called out Torres for not being willing to move to third base last season.

The Post asked Torres if he felt the Yankees just did not want him anymore. “I don’t know. Maybe you can ask (Cashman),” he said.

Torres did say that even if he's not happy with how things ended, he has put his Yankees years behind him, already.

“I don’t pay attention to what’s going on over there,’’ Torres said. “I just want to do my job here. I have to prove many things to teams and myself. It’s a new journey for me and I have to fix some things and be more consistent defensively and on offense.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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