Gleyber Torres holds the dubious distinction of being the only member of the Yankees Opening Day lineup to not spend time on the injured list this season–a distinction that it appears he will maintain now that Aaron Boone has said he expects Torres back in the lineup on Tuesday (link). Torres was out of the lineup on Saturday and Sunday due to a hamstring issue, but Boone told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News that Torres is going to avoid an IL stint (link).
“Gleyber’s good. I just decided yesterday that I wanted to give him one more day going into the off day, but I’m obviously encouraged by the MRI and just from speaking with him, he feels good,” the Yankees manager told Ackert.
In less insightful news, Torres is very good at baseball. In this, his second full big league season, the Venezuelan has hit .284/.343/.546 with 38 bombs while playing passable defense at short and second.
More news from around the Yankee clubhouse…
- Torres’ teammate Edwin Encarnacion may be ready to return to action as soon as this Wednesday, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (link). After suffering a “mild” oblique strain on Sept. 12, Encarnacion has been sitting benchside as New York prepares for the postseason. Limited to just 44 games with the Yankees since they acquired him from Seattle in June, Encarnacion has recorded a .249/.325/.531 line with 13 home runs in pinstripes this year. Of course, now that fellow mashers Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Luke Voit are back healthy, it remains to be seen how Encarnacion will be deployed moving forward.
- In a rare piece of non-injury-related Yankee news, today marked a very special afternoon for laureled New York hurler C.C. Sabathia. Similar to those offered to Yankee legends Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera before their final games in New York, a video tribute before Sunday’s game looked back fondly on Sabathia’s decade-long career in the Bronx. Interestingly, the emotional occasion provided an opportunity for Sabathia to disclose to Ackert that he may be interested in a Yankees front office role after his playing days are up–much like former Yankee players and current employees Andy Pettitte and Carlos Beltran. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens. But yeah, for sure,” Sabathia told Ackert when asked if such a role would interest him. “I talk to Carlos all the time, I talk to Andy all the time, obviously. It seems like they have a pretty fun role. It’s something like I feel like I can do.” The 39-year-old Sabathia holds a 4.99 ERA (5.73 FIP) through 106.1 innings and 22 starts this year.
whyhayzee
Suspicious.
PopeMarley
Your dad said the very same thing.
scarfish
Terrible, terrible effort.
upstater
Troll^^^^
Ejemp2006
Wow, getting healthy at just the right time. So what does the skipper do with all of the people who produced but don’t have the big names?
Specifically Maybin. The Guy has been legit all year but he’ll be on the bench come playoffs. Can someone say clubhouse drama brewing?
shortytallz
umm, no.
kevnames42
A short but spot on statement
Begamin
Maybin has cooled off since his hot start with the Yankees. Batted .241/.353/.414 in Sept. Solid fielder, but its no surprise to me that he started to revert back to his normal numbers. His performance spike was nothing but that, a spike.
southbeachbully
I love to hear Sabathia wants to stay involved with the Yanks. Of course he came to NY for the bag but I remember people asserting he was going to a West Coast team when he was a FA back in winter 08. He’s really embraced the city on and off the field. The couple of peeps I know at the Roc say he’s truly a good dude.
pasha2k
He maybe a good dude but he’s a cry baby.
costergaard2
Whatever troll. He did get pissed when the Rays threw behind CC’s catcher’s head, but he didn’t whine. I wouldn’t mess with him, but say what you will behind the anonymity of your computer screen…
Steven Chinwood
What about the bunts?
Bruin1012
The Bunting thing is where he lost me. He got so pissed when people were bunting on him when he had his knee thing. Went as far as calling breaking an unwritten rule.
Mickey777
I could see Luke Voit being the odd man out if everyone is healthy. Dh Encarnacion, LF Stanton, 1B Lemahieu, 3B Urshela. Voit has basically hit only 1 home run in the 2nd half. Urshela has slumped of late but his defense is much better than Voit’s. Pitching will obviously be the key for the Yanks anyway!
jonnyzuck
IF everyone is healthy by playoff time I would basically platoon didi and urshela and start both encarnacion and voit
Ichiro51
so you would bench people that can play the field and play one player that can’t play a position and 1 that could only play first…
I dunno man I’d platoon the two big guys
dobsonel
Urshela has been the second best contact hitter on the team. Why would they sit him?
toomuchpie
That’s correct only if 4 equals basically 1.
Yankeedynasty
Or bench Didi, Gleyber at short, Urshela at third, DJ at second, EE at first, and Voit DH with Stanton LF.
Then you get much better defense with DJ at second than at first, and slumping Didi and his 89 wRC+ can sit.
We’ve been waiting on a Didi hit streak all year and it hasn’t happened. To many bad swings. It’s better to bench him in favor of the other, better options
Begamin
“All year”
The guy’s played 78 games after coming off a major injury. Not saying we have make him a starter on the playoff roster, even though he is a bit of a clutch hitter (remember the 2 HRs against Kluber in the 2017 ALDS? the WC game against the Twins?), but to say we’ve been “waiting on a Didi hit streak all year” is a hit unfair to him when you consider all the factors especially the fact that he hasnt played all year.
Yankeedynasty
Sure but it’s been long enough of this slump
Begamin
So do you just expect a guy who had no spring training that is also coming off Tommy John to go out and perform like he did in April fo 2018? I just think the expectations he is letting down are a bit unfair is all.
Yankeedynasty
But he has swung at both high and low pitches, which isn’t a TJ problem
Begamin
But it is a “long layoff due to injury and not having a spring training” problem. Mental game is off, he is probably trying to make up for his lost time/jump start his numbers in a contract year with not much time to get right. Theres more to producing well than simply being rehabbed. He is not a bad hitter just because he’s been struggling a bit.
Again, Im not saying you have to make him start in the playoffs. The Yankees have an extra amount of middle infielders. It only makes sense that one of them reverts to a reserve role come playoff time. My point is simply that its a bit unfair to expect him to put up numbers similar to that of a non-injury marred season. I mean, do you know how many people wanted to give up on Sanchez after his injury riddled 2018 campaign? Its wasnt fair to compare Gary’s 2018 numbers to his 2017 numbers and its not fair to compare Didis 2018 numbers to his 2019 numbers. Its not accurately representative of his usual level of play
Yankeedynasty
Maybe Didi doesn’t make the roster for Tyler Wade! Versitily
spinach
Under what circumstance could Torres go on the IL? Rosters have expanded, there would be nothing to gain so it is a fake discussion as there was not even the remotest possibility of it happening.
Ashtem
And their is less than 10 games too
Melchez
The IL was never an option. It was only mentioned to make the Yankee fans feel better. MLBTR needs to feed the egos of the Yankee fans. Notice he said Torres defense was “passable”. Nice.
Steven Chinwood
Melchie this is reaching for even you.
Valkyrie
MLBTV does the same thing. No matter what team, what topic, they will end up making a comparison to the Yankees with the Yankees being “better”
Gotta feed the egos or Yankees fans will stop watching.
PopeMarley
@Melchez @Valkyrie are you two nuts posting from Area 51?
southbeachbully
@Valkyrie @Melchez
I understand Liabetes is a serious illness but cmon. You guys are reaching. On days when I can’t catch the Yanks on TV I watch MLBTV to try and see the highlights and trust me, they don’t cover the Yanks any more than any other team.
I think the point of mentioning he’s not going to go on the IL is to state he won’t miss any significant time.
Melchez
There was never an option to go on the IL because the season is almost over and the rosters have expanded. They started a thread about nothing just to talk about the Yankees. MLBTR does this all the time.
southbeachbully
@Melchez And again…..I think it was discussed to simply infer that the injury wasn’t serious enough to keep him inactive for 10 days. My gosh you are obsessed with the Yankees. I’ve passed on hundreds of articles of players far less important than Torres, some about minor league journeymen and yet it never made me take the time to comment on it. Relax bro. Not that deep. Hey there’s an article about the Pirates signing journeymen Jake Elmore to a contract. Go there if this article annoys you that much.
Melchez
Just an opinion of a non Yankee fan. There are 29 other teams that have players that are hurt but not on the IL because it’s so late in the year.
whyhayzee
He slipped and fell on the grass,
He wound up on his … posterior,
On any other team
The story would seem,
To be essentially inferior.
angt222
Torres should the future SS. Let Didi walk and shift LeMahieu to 2B with Torres at short.