Gleyber Torres instagram drama is what Yankees deserve after years of inexcusable indecision

The offseason is still young, but it's already given us plenty of evidence that the New York Yankees can't wait to be rid of mercurial second baseman Gleyber Torres. The team declined to extend him a qualifying offer after their World Series loss, fearing that Torres might take them up on it, and GM Brian Cashman spent the better part of last week's GM Meetings kicking dirt on the former franchise cornerstone's grave.

Through all that, we hadn't heard for Torres himself as he prepares to hit free agency for the first time in his career. And while we still don't know exactly how he feels about his now-former team, we have a pretty good idea of just how excited he is to be moving on: As of Tuesday, Torres' Instagram has been wiped clean of any mention of the Yankees, either in his bio or in his follows list.

Torres and the Yankees are far from the first player-team pairing to decide that parting ways would be best. But this immediate outpouring of bad blood, starting pretty much the moment the team's season ended, is pretty unusual. And it begs the question: Just why did New York let things get this toxic? If this was always the way the relationship was going to end, why did Cashman insist on playing out the string — and stringing Torres along?

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Gleyber Torres wipes Yankees from Instagram bio ahead of free agency

The cold war between Torres and the Yankees dates back to at least 2022, when New York appeared to be on the verge of trading the infielder at the deadline ... only for the deal to fall through, reportedly because teams weren't willing to meet Cashman's hefty asking price.

The rumors clearly got to Torres, who slumped badly down the stretch that season. And yet, a few months later — and despite an offseason resurgence from Torres — there the Yankees were again, fielding calls and playing footsie with interested teams. From 2021 onward, it's been clear that Cashman wasn't sold on investing in Torres for the long haul. And yet, rather than taking any one of several opportunities to sell high on an infielder with an above-average bat and at least an average glove, the Yankees balked, seemingly out of a stubborn refusal to sell for anything less than what they perceived to be fair value. (Why Cashman's estimation of Torres' trade value was so much higher than his estimation of Torres' value to the Yankees is an excellent question.)

To be clear, Torres is hardly blameless here. His bat dipped mightily across 2021 and 2022, and he's long been prone to mental lapses (and lapses in effort) both in the field and on the bases. He's an easy player to get exasperated with in ways that his perfectly solid stat line doesn't capture. But it's also hard to find too much fault with him for wanting to wipe his hands of this team and start fresh. Cashman surely played a part in all those trade rumors getting out, and hardly ever offered a full-throated endorsement of an important player. This didn't have to be the way things ended between Torres and the Yankees, but it's the ending the team deserves.