One of last offseason's subtler moves is having a big impact on the 2025 MLB postseason.
The New York Yankees opted not to sign Gleyber Torres to a new contract. He instead ended up with the Detroit Tigers.
Entering Wednesday, both the Yanks and Tigers are down 2-1 in their respective ALDS series to the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners.
Torres has swung the bat well against the Mariners, while the Yankees have been outslugged in their series.
There's no telling how things might've been different, but there's always a chance if Torres had stayed in town, one or both of these series would be shaping up in an alternate way.
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Why did the Yankees let Gleyber Torres leave for the Tigers?
Torres essentially didn't fit into the Yankees' future plans.
He wasn't going to be the second baseman, because that's where Jazz Chisholm would play after his 2024 trade deadline acquisition from the Miami Marlins.
Reports indicated that Torres wasn't interested in shifting over to third base (the Yankees really could've used him there, because they had a revolving door of struggle at that spot in the first half of the season).
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The Yankees also hadn't seen the consistent hitter they wanted. Torres showed occasional slug in 2024 (16 homers) but his average declined to .257, and if he wasn't a plus defender or base runner, the Yanks weren't sure that made sense for them.
The Tigers gladly snagged an established bat to add to their young core, and Torres put up a solid .745 OPS this season.
Now, the Yankees and Tigers wait to see if either team can make an ALDS comeback to advance to the next round.
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