Friday, December 15, 2017

Gleyber Torres is Your Opening Day 2nd Baseman, Deal With It


I think I was just one of many that either stayed up late the night the news broke that Giancarlo Stanton was coming to the Yankees via trade or one that woke up to utter shock that the reigning National League MVP was Bronx-bound. We all as a fan base waited anxiously to see what the Yankees would be giving up, how much of the Stanton contract they would be paying etc. but while most waited I began to brainstorm. I am always looking ahead and when we learned that Starlin Castro was going to be involved in the deal my immediate thought was not whether the Yankees would set an MLB record for home runs by a team in 2018, but who would play second base replacing Castro? I’m weird, I know. My immediate thought went to Ronald Torreyes or Tyler Wade as they finished the 2018 season healthy, are both on the 40-man roster and with Torreyes specifically had success at the MLB level in a small sample size. Torreyes filled in admirably for an injured Didi Gregorius at the beginning of the 2017 season but I don’t see him doing it again here in 2018, not with a healthy Gleyber Torres on the roster that some inside the Yankees organization wanted to start the season at the MLB level last season. Those same personnel members will push for Torres being in the Bronx on Opening Day 2018 assuming the Yankees still need a second baseman then and this time I think they will get their wish.

Gleyber Torres will be the Yankees Opening Day second baseman in 2018, deal with it. I said “deal with it” because to my surprise I was roasted on Twitter the day of the Stanton trade for saying so. You would be surprised to read some of the responses that I got to that tweet. Many said I was crazy, that Torres was still injured (no he’s not), not ready (yes he is, he was last season), or that it just wasn’t going to happen but I am not buying it just because you said so. Not many had Aaron Judge starting in right field at the beginning of the 2017 season because of his strikeouts, his inexperience and because of his lack of a blockbuster September call-up the season prior. How did that work out? The Yankees have the offense and the veteran leadership in the infield with Didi Gregorius to deal with and survive the growing pains for Gleyber, and they should. Don’t wait until June, don’t wait to save a few dollars. We are the New York Yankees and we are back to being the New York Yankees again, after 2018 I don’t want to hear about money or the budget or the luxury tax ever again. Ever.  

Stop babying prospects and stop coddling the young guys. Let them play with the young guys around them and figure it out on their own. Derek Jeter wasn’t handled like a porcelain doll, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte weren’t either. Robinson Cano wasn’t. Chein-Ming Wang wasn’t. Aaron Judge wasn’t. I can keep going but I think you get my ultimate point, that Gleyber Torres shouldn’t be either so say hello to your Opening Day starting second baseman and also wish him a Happy belated Birthday as well.


#EnterGleyber

2 comments:

  1. I am on board with delaying his service time to pick up the extra year of control rather than have him as the starting second baseman out of the gate. If that means some combo of Ronald Torreyes and Tyler Wade, so be it. Listening to every Yankees executive at the Winter Meetings, the common theme was that we didn't see the real Wade at the MLB level last year and all expect much greater things out of him. Regardless, I am okay with a stopgap at second until Torres joins the team to take over the position (assuming we have a solid answer for third base).

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  2. Hal, is the man to convince not us! One more year of control is what Hal wants, and 99% of other owners and GMs' would go for the same thing. It's not going to hurt Torres to wait a few months.
    Scott, Jeter got his job because our SS was injured and out for the year.

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