New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was removed from manager Aaron Boone’s lineup on Wednesday, a day after he failed to get an out on a ground ball in a crucial moment late in the innings. Oswaldo Cabrerra will play Torres’ usual spot at second base when the Yankees close out a back-to-back series against the city’s Mets on Wednesday.
In addition to Tuesday’s misstep that ultimately cost the Yankees his spot, the 27-year-old Torres has struggled recently. In 80 games in 2024, he’s hitting .215/.294/.333 with seven homers for an OPS+ of just 78. Entering the 2024 season, Torres’ career OPS+ was 114, making this a big drop off for him in his retirement year. Things have been even worse recently, with Torres batting just .108 with a .222/.324 slugging percentage over the past two weeks.
Torres explained his reasoning for not running the ground ball: He felt discomfort in his groin at the time.But Boone said Wednesday that the pain was “not that bad.”
Boone was somewhat vague on Tuesday when asked if the incident would lead to Torres being benched.Via Brian Hoch of MLB.com):
“We need him to perform. We need him to perform, especially this time of year. … We need him to have a presence in the middle of the lineup. We need to bring that out of him.”
By Wednesday, the answer became clearer: “I feel like he needs it,” Boone told reporters, adding that Torres might be given “a few days to reset mentally and physically.”
Boone also acknowledged that Tuesday night’s incident influenced his decision.
The Yankees enter Wednesday’s game with a 52-29 record and two games behind the Orioles in the AL East, but they have lost five of their last six and seven of their last nine games and are without Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton due to injuries. The Mets, meanwhile, are 14-6, the best record in MLB history in the month of June.
