The San Francisco Giants are eyeballing an upgrade at second base, and a two-time All-Star may be eyeballing a move to the Bay Area.
San Francisco has been steadily losing ground in the National League West division race over the past several seasons. With staff ace Blake Snell now wearing the uniform of the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers, that gap is poised to increase.
Caleb Moody of Just Baseball believes the Giants could fill their hole at second base by signing Gleyber Torres away from the New York Yankees.
Moody notes that, “Torres would give San Francisco a more stable offensive floor at second and also a way to potentially bump up production at the top of the lineup.”
Torres, a highly regarded prospect who the Chicago Cubs traded to the New York Yankees for closer Aroldis Chapman during the Cubs’ 2016 drive to win a World Series title for the first time since 1908, quickly endeared himself to Yankee fans upon his MLB debut in 2018.
However, after earning All-Star Game nods in his first two big-league seasons, Torres’ production trailed off during an attempted move to shortstop in 2020 and 2021. While his offensive statistics have again improved since moving back to short, he has not developed into the superstar that Gotham initially thought it had.
Though Torres remains a solid second-sacker with a career batting average of .265 and 20-plus home run power, resigning him does not appear to be a priority for the Yankees.
Spotrac projects Torres to have a market value worthy of a three-year, $20.8 million contract, making him a more affordable option than Ha-seong Kim or Willy Adames.
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