Why would anyone think the Yankees would trade Gleyber Torres?
By Josh Hill
Please throw away all of your Gleyber Torres trade rumors, because they’ll never ever come true.
It’s fun to drum up trade rumors and to speculate about which teams could make splashy deals. Baseball isn’t the most popular of the American sports, but it’s perhaps most interesting to the mainstream audience when trades are being discussed. Double that when trade rumors involve a team like the Yankees. Round second and sprint towards third when a big team like the Yankees are being talked about as trading one of their star players like Gleyber Torres.
That’s the case right now, as the Yankees are back to being nationally prominent and they have a bevvy of young players that other teams would love to have. They also have a few glaring needs should they want to put together as complete a World Series contender as possible.
But there will be no crossing home with these rumors. Torres isn’t going to be traded, even though there will be signs from all over that such a thing might happen. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told Brendan Kuty of NJ.com and others, in so many words, that the idea of trading Torres is insane.
That’s because it is.
If there’s one thing the Yankees have been known for, it’s buying up the talent other teams have to try and win a World Series. The last time they won a World Series, though, it was with a lot of homegrown talent that blossomed into a dynasty.
Derek Jeter wasn’t traded for, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada only ever wore Pinstripes, and Andy Pettitte was in his second season when the Yankees won their first title of the 90s. It was after that we dubbed the Yankees an Evil Empire when the homegrown talent was mashed together with high priced free agency signings.
That all resulted, for the most part, in one World Series (in 2009). It was the four before that which can mostly be accredited to the homegrown talent not being traded away to plug a short-term hole. That’s why the Yankees aren’t trading Gleyber Torres — or Didi Girgirous, or Miguel Andujar, or any of their young talent. A team known for trying to buy a title has instead grown a team that could become a dynasty.
It’s a bit facetious to say that now, but trading away Torres would ensure we would never know. Keeping him gives the Yankees a key piece of a deadly core group that could compete for not just this year (which is the short-term) but for many years ahead.
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Speculating about a Torres trade — or fantasizing about your team acquiring him — is all in good fun; it shouldn’t be discouraged. But believing it will cross over with reality is as foolish as the very idea of trading him in the first place.