After years of refusing, former Yankees star may finally be willing to change positions

After seven seasons with the New York Yankees, Gleyber Torres finds himself on the free agent market this offseason. The 28-year-old was signed as an international free agent in 2013 by the Chicago Cubs and was eventually included as part of the trade that sent Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees to the Chicago in 2016.

Torres made his MLB debut in 2018 as a Yankee. He played both middle infield positions for the next five seasons before settling in at second base in 2023.

Many Yankees fans were hoping for the team to re-sign Torres this offseason. However, during the Winter Meetings, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said prospect Caleb Durbin is the favorite to play second base in 2025, practically guaranteeing that Torres will be playing in a new team's uniform come next season. This plan all changed when the Yankees have just traded a package that included Durbin to the Milwaukee Brewers for closer Devin Williams.

The Yankees still have young in-house options to replace Torres in Jorbit Vivas, Oswald Peraza, and Oswaldo Cabrera who have all logged innings at both second and third base. Jazz Chisholm Jr. could also return to second base, but these four options may have let the Yankees feel their highly touted prospect was expendable to acquire the closer they needed.

Will Torres willingly change positions for a new team?

The former Yankee has begun to draw interest from two teams: the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Nationals. The Nationals have asked if Torres would move to third base because they have Luis Garcia — who hit .282 with 18 HRs, 70 RBIs, and 22 SBs this past season — entrenched at the keystone position. Garcia has been the Nationals second basemen for the last five seasons.

This request comes after Torres rejected any notion of him playing third base midway through the 2024 season. The Yankees acquired second baseman Chisholm Jr. from the Miami Marlins at the trade deadline, and it was unclear which player would be asked to handle third base.

In an interview following the trade, Torres was asked about the change, and he bluntly responded, "I don't like it. I am a second baseman. I play second." Yankees Coach Aaron Boone also acknowledged that Torres wanted to remain at second base.

Baseball is as much a mental game as it is physical. When players are on the field, they need to be 100 percent mentally locked into their job, or else errors will happen. A player's struggle in the field will also affect his mentality while hitting. Yogi Berra famously said, "Baseball is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical."

So, it is possible that Torres strongly resisted the move at the midpoint of the season because he had never played third base and knew if he struggled, his hitting, which was just starting to pick up, would be affected. In the first half of the season, he hit .262 with an on-base percentage of .307 and struck out 22 percent of the time. In the second half of the season, he improved dramatically, hitting .292 with a .361 on base percentage, and striking out in just 17.5 percent of plate appearances.

With an entire offseason to practice, Torres may be more willing to transition to third base. The Nationals may have to step up their offer financially for the move to happen, but it is in their great interest to add a bat of Torres's caliber. Their 2025 depth chart at third base needs to be stronger.

Jose Tena, acquired from the Cleveland Guardians this past season, is projected to be the starter, but his MLB experience is limited. He had 31 at-bats with the Guardians in 2023 and four in 2024 before a trade to Washington. He played in 44 games with the Nationals, logging innings at both second and third base. In 157 at-bats, he hit .274 with just three HRs and 15 RBIs.

Tena is not the long-term answer for the Nationals at third base. That problem could be solved if Torres is willing to make the position change in the nation's capital. Whether Torres chooses the Angels, Nationals, or a different team, the 28-year-old brings seven years of MLB experience — and perhaps some newfound flexibility — that any team could greatly benefit from.

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