This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

• The Athletics and Brent Rooker agreeing to a five-year extension (1:40)
• The Dodgers signing Hyeseong Kim and trading Gavin Lux to the Reds (6:40)
• The Diamondbacks signing Corbin Burnes (14:45)
• Do the Blue Jays have unique challenges in signing free agents to come to another country? (16:30)
• Will Burnes opt out in two years and will the Diamondbacks trade a starter now? (21:05)
• The Yankees acquiring Cody Bellinger from the Cubs and signing Paul Goldschmidt (26:35)
• The Astros signing Christian Walker (34:40)
• The Mets signing Sean Manaea and Griffin Canning (39:15)
• The Red Sox signing Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval (43:35)
• The Phillies acquiring Jesús Luzardo and signing Max Kepler (50:35)
• The Orioles signing Charlie Morton (55:35)
• The Guardians trading Josh Naylor to the Diamondbacks and signing Carlos Santana (58:30)
• The Rangers trading Nathaniel Lowe to the Nationals and signing Joc Pederson (1:01:25)
• The Nationals get Lowe as well as signing Josh Bell, Michael Soroka and Trevor Williams (1:05:30)
• The Tigers signing Gleyber Torres and shuffling their infield around (1:08:25)

Check out our past episodes!

• Kyle Tucker To The Cubs, And Trades For Devin Williams And Jeffrey Springs – listen here
• Winter Meetings Recap – listen here
• Blake Snell, Dodger Fatigue, And The Simmering Hot Stove – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

The Blue Jays made plenty of sense as a speculative fit for Torres early in the winter, and he was even loosely connected to them earlier this winter. After losing Matt Chapman in free agency last winter and dealing away both Justin Turner and Isaiah Kiner-Falefa over the summer, the Jays entered the winter in need of infield help. In a thin market for infielders, Torres was among the better options not expected to command a long-term, nine-figure contract. In fact, Petzold notes that Torres emphasized to his agent this winter that he wasn’t interested in anything more than a strict one-year contract, even eschewing the possibility of a two-year deal with an opt-out clause.

Petzold adds that Torres took this stance in hopes of betting on himself and landing the aforementioned nine-figure deal he was sure to be locked out of this winter following an up-and-down platform season that saw him finish with a 104 wRC+ and just 1.7 fWAR. That desire for a one-year deal likely made him an especially attractive target for a Blue Jays team that not only faces plenty of uncertainty following the 2025 season thanks to the impending free agency of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but also thanks to the club’s group of young infielders who could theoretically play their way into regular roles in the future.

It’s not clear if the Jays’ reported interest in Torres persisted even after they traded for second baseman Andrés Giménez earlier this winter. Even if it had, though, Torres apparent preference for remaining at second base likely would have created a major obstacle for the sides, likely leaving Toronto in a position where they’d need to deal shortstop Bo Bichette and move Giménez to short in order to open up the keystone for Torres. While Bichette is coming off an even more difficult season (71 wRC+, 0.3 fWAR) than Torres’s 2024 campaign, Bichette had been a consistent four-to-five win player throughout his career prior to getting bit by the injury bug last year and would be a difficult player for the Jays to part with unless they got a hefty package in return.

As for the other reported suitors for Torres’s services, the Guardians likely only became a fit for Torres after trading Giménez to Toronto. Juan Brito, Gabriel Arias, and Daniel Schneemann currently figure to split time at the keystone for Cleveland in Giménez’s absence, but a clear everyday player like Torres would be a definitive upgrade over that timeshare between youngsters. What’s more, moving on from Giménez and his hefty $106.5MM contract likely helped free up payroll that would make signing a player of Torres’s caliber possible even for the low-budget Guardians. With Torres now off the market and headed to a division rival, it’s entirely feasible that the Guardians could now pivot to another second base option available in free agency like Jorge Polanco or Whit Merrifield.

The Reds, by contrast, are a somewhat surprising suitor for Torres. The club has plenty of infield options available already, with Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain currently locking up the middle infield while some combination of Noelvi Marte, Jeimer Candelario, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand handle the infield corners. Adding a pure second baseman who lacks positional versatility like Torres would’ve complicated matters, though it’s certainly possible to squeeze him in by shifting McLain over to the hot corner, utilizing Candelario at first base, and leaving Encarnacion-Strand and Marte to fight for plate appearances at DH or in a part-time role.

Given the club’s dreadful 87 wRC+ overall last year, even Torres’s diminished results from 2024 would provide the Reds with a substantial boost to their lineup. That boost may have made figuring out a way to squeeze Torres into the lineup worth doing, but the Reds appear to have already more or less maxed out their payroll and seem unlikely to have been able to match the $15MM salary Detroit offered the infielder. The Giants are another reported suitor whose interest in Torres comes with complications, particularly given the fact that the club landed shortstop Willy Adames on the eve of the Winter Meetings. It’s possible that San Francisco’s interest in Torres predated their deal with Adames, though it’s also feasible the club was willing to sign both players and push Tyler Fitzgerald into a utility role entering the season.

As for the Red Sox, the club certainly made sense as a fit for Torres given their wide open second base situation. Boston acquired Vaughn Grissom from the Braves last winter in hopes that he could lock up the position, but injuries and ineffectiveness led to something of a lost season in 2024. That leaves the position without a clear incumbent headed into 2025, with Grissom, David Hamilton, and top prospect Kristian Campbell among the internal options. Adding Torres to the mix would’ve eased the pressure on Campbell to perform immediately upon reaching the majors while providing an upgrade over Grissom and Hamilton who bats from the right side to help balance the club’s lefty-heavy lineup. Boston is also known to have some level of interest in top free agent infielder Alex Bregman, but it’s possible that their reported interest in Torres could signal a willingness to sign a hitter closer to the middle of the free agent market like Ha-Seong Kim.

“I’ve got great friends there, great communication with the entire organization,” Torres said of his longtime club. “I feel proud of myself for being with the Yankees for seven years, but now I’m with Detroit and just really happy they gave me the opportunity to play next year. I think they have other priorities and I’m not on the list. I’m good.”

It’s not necessarily a major shock that the Yankees opted not to make an attempt to bring back Torres. The 28-year-old joined the club prior to his MLB debut as part of the trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs at the 2016 trade deadline and debuted with the club back in 2018. After back-to-back All-Star seasons in 2018 and ’19, Torres’s production took a step backwards. He’s slashed just .261/.332/.411 (109 wRC+) while playing average to below average defense at second base. It’s solid enough production for a big league regular but a far cry from the numbers the Yankees surely hoped they were getting when their consensus top-5 prospect in baseball posted a 123 wRC+ in the first two seasons of his big league career.

Torres actually began to look something more like his early-career self in 2023, when he slashed a strong .273/.347/.453 (120 wRC+) and put up 3.6 fWAR. Unfortunately, though, he followed that up with a lackluster 2024 season that saw his wRC+ drop down to just 104, the second-lowest figure of his career. That weak overall number is thanks in large part to a slow start to the season, as Torres hit just .215/.289/.248 in his first 32 games of the season. From May 2 onward, however, he slashed a much more respectable .268/.341/.412 (115 wRC+), including an excellent .292/.361/.419 (124 wRC+) after the All-Star break.

That strong finish wasn’t enough to save his role with the Yankees, however, as the club had already traded for Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the trade deadline over the summer. While Chisholm shifted to third base in deference to Torres down the stretch, the Yankees have eyed potential third base additions such as Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado rather than a reunion with Torres as they consider moving Chisholm back to his natural position. Even so, Torres’s excellent numbers late in the season grabbed the attention of a few clubs aside from the Tigers, with Torres himself highlighting the Nationals and Angels as teams who showed interest in him this winter.

Both clubs were previously reported to have interest in Torres this winter, so it’s hardly a shock that either club made him an offer. With that being said, Torres’s ability to remain at his natural position of second base with the Tigers may have made them a more attractive option than either D.C. or Anaheim. The Nationals were explicitly interested in Torres as a third baseman given the presence of Luis García Jr. at the keystone, while the Angels currently have Luis Rengifo penciled in as their everyday second baseman. It’s unclear whether Angels brass were hoping to move Torres to third base as well or if they’d have instead had Rengifo take up the super-utility role he’s handled often throughout his career, but the Tigers moving Colt Keith to first base in deference to Torres surely made it easy for the 28-year-old to feel comfortable that he would be able to put his best foot forward with the club this year before returning to free agency next winter.

With Torres now off the board, the Angels and Nationals will have to look elsewhere if they hope to upgrade their infield mix this winter. Washington already landed first baseman Nathaniel Lowe in trade with the Rangers earlier this week but could also stand to make an upgrade at the hot corner. The Angels, meanwhile, have been connected to several third base options ranging from known trade candidates like Nolan Arenado and Alec Bohm to more surprising options like Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez. Aside from those trade market possibilities, the third base market in free agency is led by Bregman but also includes lower-tier options like Yoan Moncada and Josh Rojas.

Torres, who turned 28 earlier this month, has spent his entire big league career to date in Yankee pinstripes. The once-vaunted top prospect looked like a breakout star in 2019 when he socked 38 home runs in just 144 games, but Torres wound up settling in as a solid regular at second base rather than the superstar shortstop he appeared to be on the cusp of becoming in ’19. Since that stellar 2019 campaign — which came in MLB’s juiced-ball season — Torres has slashed .261/.332/.411. That’s about 9% better than average, by measure of wRC+ (which weights for home park and league run-scoring environment in a given season).

The 2024 season was shaping up to be a career-worst showing for Torres at the halfway point. Through his first 80 games, he turned in an anemic .215/.294/.333 slash (81 wRC+) with a 23.9% strikeout rate that was well north of the 19.3% mark he’d posted over the prior five seasons. Torres righted the ship in late June, however, and rebounding to the tune of a .298/.365/.421 slash with a much-improved 17.3% strikeout rate down the stretch.

It’s perhaps possible that Torres could’ve landed a multi-year deal at a lower rate, but given his age and track record, it’s not a shock to see him take a pure one-year pillow deal. MLBTR predicted back in November that he’d ink a two-year deal with an opt-out, as the priority for him always seemed likely to be getting back to the market next winter. The demand seemingly wasn’t there to push to that range, however, and Torres will head to Comerica Park as an eminently reasonable one-year roll of the proverbial dice. With a strong enough showing, he’ll have the added benefit of being a potential qualifying offer candidate for the Tigers next offseason.

Torres steps into a Detroit infield that’s lacking in any real certainty. Colt Keith, who hit .285/.330/.429 in 445 plate appearances after a terrible start to his rookie season, appears to be the only other infield lock. He played second base in 2024 but has experience at the hot corner as well. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press writes, however, that the organization prefers not to play Keith at third due to some injury concern regarding his right shoulder. Keith has taken reps at first base, and while he’s yet to play there in a professional game, he could get further work there this spring in the event of a potential position shift.

Meanwhile, Javier Baez is signed for three more seasons at $24MM per year, but he’s played himself out of a starting role and will eventually be a release candidate if he can’t rebound to at least some extent (though the Tigers have suggested this winter that they still see a role for Baez in ’25). Former top pick Spencer Torkelson belted 32 homers in 2023 but flailed through an ugly 2024 campaign and has yet to establish himself as a viable big league regular. Trey Sweeney showed a big league-ready glove at shortstop but didn’t hit in 36 big league games during last year’s second-half debut. Top prospect Jace Jung drew heaps of walks (16%) in 94 plate appearances late last season but is probably ticketed for Triple-A work or (speculatively speaking) some exposure to left field. Matt Vierling could factor in at the hot corner as well, though he can play in the outfield, too.

The glut of infield options, even with many of them unproven, gives the Tigers some flexibility with regard to how they handle the rest of the offseason. Young players like Sweeney and particularly Jung would command considerable trade interest. Torkelson stands as a viable change-of-scenery candidate, especially if the Tigers indeed plan to give Keith a prominent role at first base. Torkelson could still factor into the first base/DH mix, but he’s hardly a lock to do so after hitting .221/.300/.392 through his first 361 big league games.

The Tigers have been connected to free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, though that’d be a considerably larger signing than they’ve made at any point under current president of baseball operations Scott Harris. Some of the link there is surely due to the presence of former Astros skipper A.J. Hinch in the Detroit dugout. Petzold reported earlier in the week that Bregman has become more of a priority for the Tigers as the offseason has worn on, but the addition of Torres clouds the infield mix a bit more. A fit could still come together, particularly if the Tigers are keen on moving someone like Jung in a deal for rotation help.

In terms of payroll, there’s no reason to think the Tigers can’t make another prominent addition after adding Torres. They entered the offseason with only Baez, Keith and Kenta Maeda on guaranteed deals for the upcoming season. Torres and fellow free agent pickup Alex Cobb have pushed the team to a projected a $109MM payroll, per RosterResource’s projections. That’s nowhere near the team’s franchise-record $200MM payroll from 2017. And while that level of spending came under the ownership of the late Mike Ilitch, even Ilitch’s son, Chris, has authorized payrolls as high as $135MM in recent seasons (2022).

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported that Torres had agreed to a deal with the Tigers. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first reported the terms and that Torres was expected to be the Tigers’ starting second baseman.

Harris confirmed the Tigers will play Torres at second base. Colt Keith will move to first base. Harris indicated that Keith could return to the keystone in future years but noted that “for 2025, our best team has Gleyber at second base and Colt at first base.” Keith spent the entire ’24 campaign at second base, where he logged nearly 1100 innings as a rookie.

Keith’s defensive grades were mixed. Statcast rated him as a slightly above-average second baseman. Defensive Runs Saved was a lot less enthusiastic, estimating he was eight runs below par. Scouting reports on the 6’2″, 211-pound infielder have pegged him as a bat-first player. Keith may be a capable defender at the keystone but wasn’t likely to develop into a Gold Glove winner.

That was the youngster’s first full season as a second baseman. Keith was drafted as a third baseman and continued playing the hot corner until midway through the ’23 campaign. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press wrote this morning that the Tigers weren’t willing to move Keith back to third base because of concerns about a prior labrum injury in his throwing shoulder.

Keith’s bat guarantees him a spot in the starting lineup. The lefty hitter had a .260/.309/.380 slash with 13 homers. Those numbers are weighed down by a terrible first few weeks. Keith had a .154/.222/.165 showing through the end of April. He hit .282/.328/.426 in 457 plate appearances from the start of May onward. Keith managed solid production against pitchers of either handedness. He should be in the lineup against almost all right-handed pitchers. Skipper A.J. Hinch could shield him from a few lefties, but the Tigers are unlikely to relegate Keith to a strict platoon role.

If the Tigers aren’t willing to play Keith on the left side of the infield, the Torres deal essentially forced him to first base. Torres has been a full-time second baseman since the Yankees moved him off shortstop in 2022. The Nationals showed interest in moving him to third base. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported last night — before Torres signed with Detroit — that the infielder rebuffed Washington because he didn’t want to change positions.

Between the infield shakeup and some early offseason chatter about the Tigers potentially pursuing a veteran first baseman, it’s fair to wonder if former first overall pick Spencer Torkelson still has a role on the roster. Unsurprisingly, Harris suggested publicly that remains the case. Detroit’s front office leader said he spoke with Torkelson before the Tigers announced the Torres signing. “My message to Tork was: ’if you have a big offseason and a big spring training, there’s a role for you on this team.’ This team needs more right-handed power and we’ve seen Tork do that in the past,” Harris said.

The Tigers have sought right-handed hitting since the start of the offseason. Torres addresses that to some extent, though he’s more a solid hitter than a great one. His 38-homer showing from 2019 looks like a clear outlier. Torres respectively hit 24 and 25 homers in 2022 and ’23. That dropped to 15 round-trippers this year, in part because of an ice cold April in which he didn’t hit a single home run.

Torkelson connected on 31 homers with a .233/.313/.446 slash line in 2023. A strong second half provided optimism coming into this year. Instead, he stumbled to a .219/.295/.374 mark with 10 homers through 92 games — struggles that led the Tigers to option Torkelson to Triple-A Toledo for a stretch. A change-of-scenery trade still seems a distinct possibility.

Kerry Carpenter should get the bulk of playing time at designated hitter. The lefty-swinging Carpenter will be in the lineup at either DH or in the corner outfield against all righty pitching. He’ll probably be shielded from left-handers, but carrying Torkelson as a short-side platoon bat with limited defensive value isn’t a great use of a roster spot. Harris said today that the Tigers don’t view Torkelson as a candidate for any reps at third base or in the corner outfield, though he opined that “with the DH plate appearances and opportunity at first base, there are still plenty of plate appearances for him.”

Justyn-Henry Malloy, a righty hitter, is also in the DH/first base mix. Malloy has been a high-OBP bat in the minors. He hit just .203/.291/.366 with eight homers in 71 MLB games as a rookie. He still has a full slate of minor league options, but he’s another hitter without a clear defensive fit and a limited major league track record.

The Tigers are one of a handful of teams that has been recently linked to the top unsigned position player, Alex Bregman. While the Torres signing doesn’t directly impact third base, it deepens the infield more generally. Harris declined comment on Bregman, as the CBA prohibits team personnel from saying whether they’re in or out on specific free agents.

He indicated there’ll be more moves on the horizon while suggesting he’s encouraged by how the roster is shaping up. “The roster isn’t done yet. It’s not even 2025 yet. There’s still some time in the offseason to fully flesh out our roster. But when I stare at our group right now, this is the deepest we’ve ever been — on both sides of the ball,” Harris said.

Since signing Alex Cobb, the Tigers have downplayed their desire for another starting pitcher. The exception is their pursuit of NPB star Roki Sasaki, who’ll be limited to a signing bonus below $10MM because of his status as an international amateur. Harris said that the Tigers have presented an initial presentation to Sasaki’s representatives at Wasserman. He indicated that the Tigers are awaiting a response from Sasaki’s camp as to whether they’ll get an in-person meeting after the holidays.

Agent Joel Wolfe suggested at the Winter Meetings that Sasaki, who took preliminary meetings with a handful of teams last week, would begin narrowing the field after returning to Japan for the holiday. The Tigers don’t seem a likely landing spot for Sasaki, but they’d certainly welcome an opportunity to make a pitch to the 23-year-old righty.

The Halos are reportedly one of the at least six teams to which Arenado would approve a trade, though that’s a somewhat surprising development in and of itself. Both reporting out of St. Louis and, more recently, direct quotes from agent Joel Wolfe have suggested that the eight-time All-Star would prefer to land with a team that has a clear path to contention over the remaining three years of his contract. Said Wolfe earlier this week to a host of reporters at the Winter Meetings: “He wants a team that has the throttle down … that he believes he can jump right in and they’re going to win right now.”

While the Angels are clearly looking to better the club — they’ve added Yusei Kikuchi, Jorge Soler, Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Newman and Kyle Hendricks this winter — it’s less clear that those moves position them as a contender for the foreseeable future. The Angels’ 63-99 record was the fourth-worst in MLB last season, landing them last place in the American League West. Arenado is an Anaheim-area native, however, having been born in Newport Beach and attended high school in Lake Forest. That proximity to home could understandably hold some sway, especially when coupled with a series of win-now moves from the Angels over the past six weeks or so.

Arenado, 34 in April, is owed $74MM over the next three seasons, but the Rockies are on the hook for $10MM of that under the terms of the deal that sent him from Denver to St. Louis several years ago. His offensive contributions have fallen off over the past two seasons — .269/.320/.426, compared to .293/.358/.553 in third-place MVP season in 2022 — but the six-time Platinum Glove winner remains a premium defender with excellent contact skills. That sets something of a high floor, while the money left on his contract means the asking price for Arenado (prospect-wise) won’t be exorbitant unless the Cardinals pay down a notable portion of the deal.

With Bohm, the asking price has appeared higher, at least in the Phillies’ early asks. They reportedly asked the Mariners about right-handers Logan Gilbert and George Kirby in early talks regarding the longtime Philadelphia third baseman — an outlandish ask even coming off a solid season for Bohm. (That said, it stands to reason the Phillies would aim high early in any trade talks.)

Bohm, 28, hit .280/.332/.448 this past season, but the overwhelming majority of his production came in an outrageous April wherein he slashed .366/.438/.598. From May 1 onward, Bohm hit just .258/.303/.410 — slightly below league-average production. He’s long had negative defensive grades at third base but made strides in 2024 according to both Defensive Runs Saved (0) and Outs Above Average (4). Whether that’s sustainable will be a question interested clubs weigh carefully. Bohm is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $8.1MM in 2025 and is controllable through the 2026 season.

It’s not entirely clear that Suarez is available — Arenado and Bohm very much are — but the D-backs are a medium-payroll club with inhouse options to step up in the event that a deal comes together. Top prospect Jordan Lawlar is all but MLB-ready, and young Blaze Alexander could take some reps at the hot corner alongside shortstop Geraldo Perdomo if the Snakes opt to give Lawlar a bit more seasoning in Triple-A.

At one point this season, Suarez even briefly looked to be losing the grip on his starting third base job to Alexander. Suarez caught fire shortly thereafter, however, and not only regained his form but was one of the game’s best hitters in the season’s final three months: .312/.357/.617, 24 home runs in his final 325 plate appearances from July 1 onward. That prompted the D-backs to exercise a $15MM club option. Suarez is a free agent following the season, though, and it’s feasible that the Diamondbacks could move him for some minor league talent, go with Alexander/Lawlar at third base in 2025, and reallocate Suarez’s salary to needs at first base, in the bullpen and on the bench. That’s speculative, but the fact that the Angels have at least checked in suggests the Diamondbacks didn’t expressly turn them away.

It seems clear that GM Perry Minasian is seeking upgrades at the hot corner, even with Anthony Rendon signed for another two seasons. Any of the three players listed here would fit the bill, given what the Halos received at third base last year (combined .217/.290/.311 batting line). That’s also true of Alex Bregman and Gleyber Torres — another reported target of the Angels — but Fletcher adds that Bregman and perhaps even Torres might be out of the Angels’ price range at this point. That Torres might be too spendy doesn’t bode well for an Arenado acquisition (again, barring financial help from the Cards), but Bohm and Suarez seem feasible.

Torres has never played third base in the majors. He has spent his entire MLB career in the middle infield. Since moving off shortstop in 2022, Torres has essentially been limited to second base. He stuck at the keystone after the Yankees acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Marlins at last summer’s deadline. New York moved Chisholm to the hot corner instead.

While Torres seemingly didn’t want to move off second base with the Yankees, he might be more willing to do so now. It’s not a midseason change that would require him to learn third base on the fly. There’s also the simple matter that expanding his versatility would give Torres more appeal. Free agency is generally not kind to players who are pigeonholed at second. Sliding to third would allow him to field broader interest.

Washington has one of the weakest third base groups in the majors. Light-hitting José Tena is the expected starter. Brady House, one of the organization’s top prospects, has gotten to the high minors. House struck out at an elevated 28.8% clip in 54 Triple-A games, though, so he’s unlikely to start next season in the big leagues. General manager Mike Rizzo has spoken about the team’s desire to add a middle-of-the-order bat. Torres doesn’t really qualify as such, but he’s a good hitter who would upgrade the lineup. The corner infield and designated hitter are the biggest questions marks in the Nats’ offense.

At second base, former top prospect Luis García Jr. is coming off the strongest season of his career. The lefty-swinging infielder hit .282/.318/.444 with 18 longballs and 22 stolen bases over 140 games. García’s defensive grades remain mixed, but this was easily his best year at the plate. García and Torres have a broadly similar profile as bat-first second basemen with good contact skills.

Torres, 28 on Friday, hit 15 homers with a .257/.330/.378 slash across 665 plate appearances. That middling production was mostly a result of a horrible April. Torres had a typically strong .267/.339/.409 slash from the start of May onward. He continued to produce during the Yankees’ run to the World Series.

If the Nationals were to land Torres as a third baseman, they’d be running a risk defensively. He’s not an especially good defender at the keystone. The position change is a potential complication, while the middle infield duo of García and CJ Abrams is already one of the league’s weakest defensive combinations. The Angels, who would likely keep Torres at second base, are also known to be in the mix.

An inconsistent 2024 season left Torres with a .257/.330/.378 slash line over 665 plate appearances in his walk year, as well as 15 home runs for the pennant-winning Yankees.  This works out to a 104 wRC+ that is slightly above league-average offensive production, but also a step down from the 118 wRC+ that Torres posted over the 2022-23 seasons.  Torres’ 35.4% hard-hit ball rate and 6.3% barrel rate were both career-lows of a full season, and he saw his strikeout rate drop back to average-ish career norms after a great year of avoiding swings and misses in 2023.

This doesn’t tell the full story of Torres’ 2024 campaign, however, as his numbers were diminished by an ugly early-season slump that cost him the leadoff spot in the Yankees’ lineup.  Getting regularly slotted back into the leadoff spot in mid-August seemed to restore Torres’ confidence — he hit .236/.309/.349 in his first 481 PA, but .313/.386/.454 in 184 PA from August 16 until the end of the season.  Torres continued to hit well during the ALDS and ALCS before the Dodgers’ pitching cooled off his bat during the World Series.

Finishing strong gives Torres some level of momentum heading into free agency, but clubs must have some natural concerns over the dropoff in Torres’ power.  Home run pop and a decent walk rate are Torres’ bread and butter, as public defensive metrics have graded his second-base glovework as subpar across the board in each of the last two seasons.

On the plus side, Torres is still only a couple of days short of his 28th birthday.  A case can be made that a change of scenery might be beneficial, as Torres was often a target of fan criticism during his up-and-down seven-season run in the Bronx.  Moving from New York to Los Angeles would technically be a lateral move in terms of market size, but obviously the Angels have a much lower profile, as the team is mired in a string of nine straight losing seasons and is playing second fiddle to the Dodgers within the area.

MLBTR ranked Torres 20th on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, with a very fluid projection of a two-year, $36MM deal.  It is easy to imagine Torres taking even a one-year deal with the intention of testing the market again after a strong 2025 season, or he might prefer to lock in the security of a longer-term contract if such an offer is on the table.  The free agent market for second basemen isn’t exactly deep, plus second base-needy teams like the Blue Jays (with Gimenez), Giants (by signing Willy Adames and moving Tyler Fitzgerald to second base), Royals (Jonathan India), and Rockies (Thairo Estrada) have already addressed the position in other ways.  A reunion with the Yankees has never seemed likely.

Luis Rengifo is penciled in as the Angels’ top second base option at the moment, but Rengifo’s versatility would allow him to be deployed in plenty of other ways if Los Angeles brought Torres into the fold.  Rengifo could play shortstop until Zach Neto is healthy, or get more work at third base given the Angels’ willingness to either move Anthony Rendon to other positions or perhaps reduce Rendon’s playing time entirely.

Despite the questions that exist about Torres’ bat, it still feels like he would help an Angels lineup that was one of the worst in baseball in 2024.  The Halos have been aggressive in trying to upgrade their roster this winter, already bolstering the lineup with Jorge Soler and Travis d’Arnaud and bringing Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks into the rotation.  Owner Arte Moreno has traditionally been wary about the luxury tax threshold, but RosterResource’s estimate of a current $207.1MM tax number still leaves L.A. with plenty of room for more additions before approaching the $241MM tax line.

Asked by MLB Network’s Jon Morosi how he’d respond to inquiries from other teams on Bichette, Atkins replied that it’d be “an easy no” on the Jays’ end (X link). The GM has downplayed the possibility of moving his shortstop or infield mate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a few occasions in recent months.

It’s a logical stance for the team. While Bichette is entering the final year of his contract, a trade this winter would be selling at the low point of his value. The two-time All-Star is coming off a terrible season. He hit .225/.277/.322 over 336 plate appearances. Bichette had three injured list stints and underwent postseason surgery to address a fractured right middle finger. The Jays will hope for a return to the form he showed between 2019-23, when he was among the best shortstops in baseball.

Bichette is under contract for $16.5MM next year. It’s the final season of the three-year deal that he signed to buy out his arbitration window. A rebound would position him to cash in as a free agent when he enters his age-28 campaign. He and Guerrero are both on track for free agency next winter. It looks highly unlikely the Jays will keep both players for the long term.

As they try to turn things around in 2025, the Jays will pencil Bichette back in at shortstop. They’ll need to make other moves to improve after a 74-88 showing. Upgrading a bullpen that ranked 29th in MLB with a 4.82 ERA is the most obvious target area. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes that the Jays are also going to be involved in the starting pitching market.

Toronto projects for a starting five of Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos, Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodríguez. Right-hander Jake Bloss, acquired from the Astros in the Yusei Kikuchi deadline deal, might be the top depth option. It’s not a bad group, but Rodríguez and Francis haven’t pitched full seasons as starters. Adding a more established starter could have a trickle-down impact on the ’pen, as Rodríguez worked in both capacities and could excel in a multi-inning relief role if the Jays added to their rotation.

On the position player side, the outfield stands as the biggest question. Toronto doesn’t have a clear starter in left field. George Springer is penciled in as the top option in right field, but he’s coming off a middling year at age 35. Daulton Varsho is ticketed for the lion’s share of playing time in center field. They’ll probably need a short-term stopgap with Varsho recovering from September rotator cuff surgery. Atkins told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and Keegan Matheson (X link) that the Jays don’t expect Varsho to be ready for Opening Day, though it doesn’t sound as if he should be sidelined too far into the season.

Atkins indicated the Jays aren’t likely to make a big move behind the plate, telling Bastian and Matheson that adding a catcher is “not a priority” (X link). Toronto is set to give the bulk of playing time to Alejandro Kirk. They reacquired Tyler Heineman via late-season waiver claim to serve as Kirk’s backup.

It does seem they’re open to adding at either second or third base, however. Nicholson-Smith reports that the Jays have shown early interest in the top free agent second baseman, Gleyber Torres. The Yankees allowed Torres to hit the market without a qualifying offer, so a signing team will not forfeit draft compensation. There’s a wide range of free agent outcomes for Torres, who hits free agency coming off a relative down year. Most of that can be traced to a dismal April, as he hit well from May onward and continued to produce during New York’s pennant run. He has a case for three or potentially four years going into his age-28 season, but the infielder could prefer a shorter-term arrangement to get back to free agency after a better overall walk year.

Toronto has a collection of internal second base options, none of whom has a ton of MLB experience. Will Wagner is probably the internal favorite after impressing in 24 games to close his rookie season. Leo Jiménez, Davis Schneider and Ernie Clement could also vie for playing time. Torres brings a higher floor than that group. Atkins and his staff will weigh whether they want to allocate significant resources to the keystone when they have so many other areas to address over the next few weeks.

Edman, 29, has yet to make his season debut in the majors after undergoing wrist surgery last fall. The recovery from that surgery has taken much longer than expected, and while he’s begun a rehab assignment at the Double-A level, that’s come entirely as a DH. It seems unlikely that Edman, who hit just .248/.307/.399 in 137 games for the Cardinals last year, would garner much interest from any club as a DH-only player. Any suitor would likely need to be confident of Edman’s ability to play the field for them this year in order to make a deal.

While his health status is something of a question mark, it’s hardly a surprise that the Yankees would be interested in Edman’s services. After all, the versatile defender has experience at every position on the diamond besides first base and catcher and has shown the ability to be a plus glove at each of those positions. That combination of versatility and defensive excellence is rather rare and, in conjunction with a switch-hitting bat that has produced an almost exactly league average wRC+ of 99 throughout his career, it would make Edman a valuable piece for almost any team. The Yankees, who have gotten below average production from virtually every spot in the lineup not occupied by Juan Soto or Aaron Judge this year, are no exception to that.

It may seem as though the recent deal that sent infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the Bronx would leave the Yankees without much motivation to acquire Edman. After all, Chisholm is another versatile defender who has experience at both shortstop and center field, and his 103 wRC+ this year is significantly better than the 92 wRC+ Edman posted with the Cardinals in 2023. It’s easy to imagine both players co-existing in the same lineup, however. After all, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) earlier today that the club plans to use Chisholm at third base when he’s playing the infield. It’s a position that Chisholm has never played before in the majors, but Boone expressed a preference for keeping incumbent second baseman Gleyber Torres (who also has no experience at the hot corner) where he is, at least for the time being.

The addition of Edman, who has 94 games at third in the majors under his belt, could allow the Yankees to add a more experienced glove to the lineup at the hot corner while still providing a significant offensive upgrade over other internal options like DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera. By adding Edman to the mix at third base, the club could either utilize Chisholm as a super-utility type to maximize the club’s offensive production by resting players like Torres and Alex Verdugo against tough matchups, or perhaps the club could even look to deal a bat like Torres or Trent Grisham in order to acquire bullpen help as they’ve been rumored to be considering. Edman could also pair with Chisholm to offer some additional certainty to the Yankees headed into a 2025 season where Soto, Torres, Verdugo, and potentially Anthony Rizzo could all be ticketed for free agency, leaving plenty of holes to fill in the Bronx.

That doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be obstacles to a potential deal, however, even if Edman is healthy enough to be worth dealing for. According to Woo, the Cardinals are believed to be targeting “cost-controlled major-league starting pitching” in return for Edman’s services, with Woo suggesting that St. Louis could target Yankees southpaw Nestor Cortes in return. Cortes, 29, is controlled through the end of the 2025 season just like Edman is and has posted a 4.13 ERA with a 3.99 FIP in 22 starts this year. It’s unclear if the Yankees would be willing to part ways with Cortes or any of their starting pitching options, particularly as rumors swirl surrounding the possibility of them acquiring another arm that would allow them to manage Luis Gil’s innings with a second-half bullpen assignment.

According to Sherman, the Yankees’ ideal deadline involves acquiring at least two hitters and two relievers. The addition of Chisholm locks up one of those hitting additions, although there’s still plenty of room for improvement around New York’s lineup. Ben Rice has held his own at first base in place of the injured Anthony Rizzo, and Anthony Volpe appears certain to continue getting everyday reps at shortstop, but third base appears to be a clear hole for the club. SNY’s Andy Martino reported earlier today that the Yankees were planning to address the hot corner before the trade deadline. While it’s theoretically possible to imagine Chisholm, a former shortstop with enough arm to handle center field, sliding over to third base for the Yankees, he’s never played the position before as a professional and the club may prefer to keep him in more familiar spots on the diamond for the time being.

If the Yankees do pursue an addition at third base, Sherman suggests that Isaac Paredes of the Rays, Luis Rengifo of the Angels, and Matt Chapman of the Giants could be among the options the club entertains. Chapman’s 111 wRC+ is the lowest of those three options but any of them would be a major upgrade over the paltry 75 wRC+ the club has gotten from its third baseman this year, a figure that ranks third worst in baseball this year. A deal for a third baseman, according to Sherman, could free up the Yankees to move another bat such as second baseman Gleyber Torres or center fielder Trent Grisham in a deal for bullpen help, though it also stands to reason that Chisholm could bounce between the keystone and the outfield depending on matchups, allowing the club to sit struggling lefties like Verdugo and Grisham against southpaws while giving players like Torres and LeMahieu more days off against right-handed starters.

As for the bullpen, the Yankees are known to have interest in Marlins southpaw Tanner Scott, and today’s deal between the sides for Chisholm does not figure to stop the clubs from getting together on another deal before the deadline should they be able to reach in agreement regarding the lefty. That being said, there are plenty of other late-inning relief options that figure to be available this summer. Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan and Rays closer Pete Fairbanks are both among the arms with closing experience rumored to be available. NJ.com’s Randy Miller reported earlier today that the Rays and Yankees were in the midst of “serious talks” regarding a Fairbanks deal, though MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch subsequently reported that nothing is close between the sides regarding Fairbanks.

Failing a reliable late-inning option, there figure to be plenty of other potentially interesting options available such White Sox flamethrower Michael Kopech, Cubs veteran Hector Neris, and Blue Jays righty Trevor Richards. Each of that trio have struggled to varying degrees this year but could be a fairly interesting addition for the Yankees bullpen, particularly if acquired as a secondary addition behind a more impactful arm like Fairbanks, Scott, or Finnegan.

Another possibility for bolstering the club’s relief corps Sherman suggests would be looking at the market for rental starting pitching. As reported by Sherman, the Yankees have inquired after Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty, who sports an excellent 2.95 ERA and 3.10 FIP in 106 2/3 innings of work for Detroit this year, Sherman suggests that such a move could allow the Yankees to move right-hander Luis Gil to the bullpen as a high leverage arm. Such a move would both fortify the relief corps while also helping to limit Gil’s innings. The righty has already thrown 107 1/3 frames this year after throwing just 138 1/3 total innings between 2021 and 2023 due to a variety of injuries.

The idea of preserving Gil’s health by moving him to the bullpen might be an attractive one for New York, although it’s worth noting that it would require a starter of Flaherty’s caliber for the loss of Gil from the rotation mix not to be a downgrade overall. Gil’s first big league action since 2022 has gone exceptionally well as he’s posted a 3.10 ERA with a 3.52 FIP across 20 starts for the Yankees this year while filling out the club’s rotation in the place of injured starters—first Gerrit Cole, then Clarke Schmidt.

This is the second time Martin has been on the IL this week, as he also missed two weeks in June dealing with anxiety.  Over 26 1/3 innings this season, the right-hander has a strong 27.9% strikeout rate and an elite 1.9% walk rate, while posting an 3.42 ERA that has been inflated by some troubles with home runs.  Martin’s SIERA is 2.44, by comparison, and his .313 BABIP reflects a bit of bad batted-ball luck.  Despite the time spent on the injured list, Martin still leads the Red Sox with 10 holds and is the club’s top set-up option for closer Kenley Jansen.

More from around the AL East…

• Gleyber Torres continues to be bothered by a nagging groin injury, as the issue forced the Yankees second baseman to make an early exit from yesterday’s 5-3 loss to the Red Sox.  Torres isn’t in today’s lineup, as it appears New York is giving him at least one day of rest — considering how Monday is an off-day for the Yankees, it seems conceivable that Torres also might not play Sunday in order to receive a more extended break.  The groin problem is the latest wrinkle in what has been a rough season for Torres, who is hitting only .223/.297/.344 with eight home runs in 355 plate appearances.
• Blue Jays reliever Yimi Garcia will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo today, and Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling (X link) writes that Garcia might just need one appearance before rejoining Toronto’s active roster.  Even if Garcia does get a second outing on Tuesday, it looks like the right-hander should be on pace to be activated from the 15-day IL before the All-Star break.  Garcia has been on the IL since June 17 due to ulnar neuritis in his throwing elbow, and a healthy return would be huge both for the Jays’ struggling bullpen, and for Garcia’s value heading into the July 30 trade deadline.  With the Blue Jays increasingly looking like sellers, a pending free agent like Garcia is a natural candidate to be moved before the deadline.

Torres projects as one of the more interesting mid-level hitters in next winter’s class. He isn’t doing himself any favors with his early-season performance, though. Torres is out to a .208/.289/.273 start through 174 plate appearances. He didn’t hit his first home run of the season until May 2 and hasn’t collected multiple hits in a game since April 29. His overall production has hovered around replacement level.

It’s a surprisingly poor start for a player who has emerged as one of New York’s more consistent offensive contributors. Torres was a decidedly above-average hitter, by measure of wRC+, in four of his first six MLB seasons. Last year was among the best of his career. He connected on 25 homers with a .273/.347/.453 slash over a personal-high 672 trips to the plate.

Torres didn’t have the gaudy slugging numbers he posted back in 2019, when he popped a career-best 38 longballs in the so-called “juiced ball” season. Yet he cut his strikeout rate to a personal-low 14.6% mark and posted the highest on-base percentage in any full season of his career. There’s an argument the 2023 season was Torres’ best after accounting for the significantly depressed offensive environment compared to ’19.

While there are a few months to turn things around, he’s amidst a rough opening to his walk year. Torres’ triple slash stats are all easily at personal lows. His rate of hard contact (a batted ball with an exit velocity of 95 MPH or greater) has dropped 10 percentage points relative to last season. After squaring up a solid 40.3% of batted balls a year ago, he’s down to 30.4% thus far. That ranks 228th among 264 qualified hitters, per Statcast.

Torres is not only making decidedly less impactful contact, he’s making less contact of any kind. His strikeout rate has jumped to 23.6%, which would be the highest since his rookie season. He’s swinging through more pitches both within and outside the strike zone. It’s not disastrous — Torres’ strikeout and walk marks are right around league average — but it’s a major step back from where he was last season.

This isn’t quite the worst stretch of Torres’ career. He had a slightly worse month and a half coming out of the All-Star Break back in 2022. Torres rebounded with a power explosion that September that presaged his strong ’23 campaign. It’s certainly not out of the question that he puts this recent slump behind him.

League-wide power numbers tend to improve in the summer as the weather warms. That has typically been the case for Torres, who has a career .369 slugging percentage in March and April and has been north of .400 in every other month. It’s not uncommon for him to take some time to find his power, although that doesn’t typically come with the kind of swing-and-miss he has shown this year.

It’s imperative he put things together fairly quickly if he’s going to land the kind of contract his camp presumably envisioned coming into the season. Torres’ profile is driven by his offensive ability. While there’s value in being able to play up the middle, he’s a fringy defender at second base. It’s not likely that teams would consider moving him back to shortstop, where he had well below-average grades and hasn’t played regularly since 2021.

Torres was already looking to buck an unfavorable market trend towards second basemen. As shown on the MLBTR Contract Tracker, there are only a handful of recent free agent deals for second basemen that exceeded $50MM. Marcus Semien’s seven-year, $175MM pact stands as an anomaly that Torres was never going to match — and Semien had a plausible argument as a potential shortstop before the Rangers signed Corey Seager a few days later. Mike Moustakas (four years, $64MM) and DJ LeMahieu (six years, $90MM) are more realistic comparison points, though those players could also play third base.

Teams have generally been more willing to invest in second basemen via extensions (e.g. Jose Altuve, Andrés Giménez, Ketel Marte, Jake Cronenworth, Jeff McNeil) than on the open market. That doesn’t seem likely to happen with the Yankees, who could be content to turn the position to Oswald Peraza after this season.

Torres’ biggest selling point once he gets to the open market is his youth. He’ll play all of next season at 28. It’s likely his camp would try to push for a deal in the range Andrew Benintendi received at the same age (five years, $75MM). That contract has aged very poorly for the White Sox, but he’d been a similar caliber of hitter as Torres leading up to his signing. Benintendi was a Gold Glove winner who plays a less important position.

However, the market for mid-tier hitters last offseason wasn’t as robust as it had been in the previous winter (when Benintendi signed). Jeimer Candelario and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. each landed three-year guarantees in the $14-15MM annual range. As with Torres, they’d generally been good but not elite hitters who weren’t offering immense defensive value. Neither Candelario nor Gurriel was eligible for a qualifying offer. If Torres turns things around, he could receive one from the Yankees.

Torres will need to start hitting soon for that to be a factor. He has already played his way out of the leadoff spot to the bottom half of the order. It’s too early for Aaron Boone to consider pulling him from the lineup entirely, but the Yankees should be locked in a tight race with the Orioles throughout the summer. They can’t afford to live with no production from second base all season, and Peraza is on a rehab stint from a Spring Training shoulder strain. How Torres performs over the next two months will be a key factor in both New York’s chance of winning a tough division and his appeal to teams when he hits the market.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

“The odds are this is a one-year situation,” Cashman said about Soto, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “I don’t see too many things stopping him from reaching free agency.” That assessment of the situation tracks with publicly-available information, as well as logic. Soto is just 25 years old but already has six years of elite production in the major leagues. Most free agents don’t reach free agency until they are around 30 years old but Soto is on track to get there around his 26th birthday, which will be at the end of October.

Despite his youth, he’s already hit 160 home runs in 779 career games, while also drawing walks more often than he strikes out. He’s hit .284/.421/.524 overall for a wRC+ of 154 and has never posted a wRC+ lower than 143 in any individual season. That combination of youth and talent has long made it seem as though a trip to free agency would be fairly inevitable. While with the Nationals in 2022, Soto reportedly rejected a $440MM extension offer, which is what led to him being dealt to the Padres.

The Yankees sent five players to the Padres this winter to get Soto and Trent Grisham, likely knowing full well that it was probably going to be a one-year proposition, with Cashman’s comments today reflecting that. Now that Soto has moved closer to free agency, his earning power has only increased since he turned down that $440MM offer, making the odds of keeping him from the open market even lower. The Yanks will have a chance to bring him back via free agency, but they will have to compete with the other clubs around the league in what is sure to be a hotly contested market.

As for Torres, it was reported back in November that the club had not engaged Torres on any extension talks. The infielder even replied “I wish” when asked about the possibility. Cashman confirmed to Greg Joyce of The New York Post this week that the club has not had any extension talks with him. Torres has been a solid player for the Yanks, hitting 123 home runs in his 734 contests thus far. His .267/.334/.454 batting line translates to a 116 wRC+. His defense at second base has been passable at times, though it was graded poorly last year.

While he’s set to be a key piece of the 2024 club, the Yanks likely feel they can pivot to a post-Torres era fairly easily. Oswald Peraza was still considered a top 100 prospect before he exhausted his rookie status last year, but he’s blocked from his natural shortstop position by Anthony Volpe. Peraza still has one option year remaining and could perhaps take over the keystone when Torres hits free agency. They also have multi-positional guys like Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu who could factor in at that spot.

As for the rest of the roster, Cashman said that it’s not “pencils down,” per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “I guess it’s always pitching,” he added about a concerning area. The Yankees project to have a rotation of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt. That’s a good rotation if healthy but that’s a big “if” as each of Rodón, Cortes and Stroman missed significant time last year. The club also subtracted from their depth when they included four possible starting pitchers in the Soto deal.

Adding to that group would be sensible but the finances may be tight. Roster Resource has the club’s competitive balance tax number at $307MM right now, well beyond the top tier of $297MM. As a third-time payor at that level, any additional spending comes with a 110% tax. Since they have five rotation spots allocated and they effectively have to pay double on any future signings, they may stick to depth signings on minor league deals, though a significant injury can always change that calculus.

Torres just turned 27 in December, so he’s on track to become a free agent at an earlier point of his career than most free agents. He put together a strong .273/.347/.453 slash in 672 trips to the plate in 2023, popping 25 home runs and connecting on 28 doubles and a pair of triples. Torres walked at a 10% clip — the highest mark of his career in a full season — and struck out at a career-low 14.6% clip. He added 13 steals in 19 tries as well. Both Defensive Runs Saved (-4) and Outs Above Average (-3) pegged him as a slightly below-average defender, but neither portrayed him as a pure liability. Torres’ well-rounded offensive output more than offset any shortcomings with the glove.

While Torres has been an oft-rumored trade candidate throughout his Yankees tenure, it seems increasingly likely that he’ll play out his final season of club control in Yankee pinstripes. He was the team’s second-best hitter behind Aaron Judge last season, and the Yanks are going all out in an effort to return to the postseason after last year’s miss — evidenced by their acquisition of Juan Soto, their aggressive (but unsuccessful) pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and tonight’s subsequent $37MM deal with right-hander Marcus Stroman. Add in the club’s trade for division rival outfielder Alex Verdugo and the potential for some further free-agent upgrades in the bullpen, and it’s clear the Yankees are focused on putting the best possible team on the field. Torres should be a pivotal part of that.

Torres has had an up-and-down tenure in the Bronx. He’ll probably never replicate the 38-homer season he delivered in the juiced-ball campaign back in 2019, but after moving off shortstop to a second base position that suits him far better, he’s been a consistently above-average hitter. Whether that’s pure happenstance or whether the pressures of struggling at shortstop were weighing on him at the plate can never be definitively proven, but either way, Torres has hit .266/.330/.452 since his position change.

Assuming he’s able to author a third consecutive season in that general vicinity, Torres will reach free agency next year as one of the top infielders available — both based on his age and his offensive track record. He’d be a surefire candidate to receive and reject a qualifying offer, giving the Yankees the opportunity to recoup some value in the form of a 2025 draft pick (as will be the case with the aforementioned Soto). That could well be the ultimate route for Torres, too, as the Yankees could turn the second base job over to prospect Oswald Peraza in 2025, when he’ll still be just 24 years of age.