Wait, Yankees Castoffs Holmes and Torres are Great Players Now?
- Cory Claus
- Mar 25
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 27
The Yankees jettisoned two underperforming players in Gleyber Torres and Clay Holmes. But to hear the pundits tell it, those are two extraordinary players the Yankees will regret losing. Excuse me, what?
The Yankees want desperately to win the World Series this year.
That takes more than hopes and money. It takes putting as many players on the field who can perform at a championship level as they can. That means players who can perform at the highest level in attitude, effort, and execution. No one can fault them for moving on from Anthony Rizzo or Alex Verduofo, for instance. They have fine attributes but simply didn’t hit enough.
The Yankees also moved on from two other players: Gleyber Torres and Clay Holmes.
That seemed like a good decision. Torres was the epitome of an up-and-down player. He had some good years and some very bad ones during his time in the Bronx. But he also brought a lot of baggage. For one thing, he has a low baseball IQ, which was clearly evident on the base paths. Gleyber never seemed to know when to run and when to stay put; he killed a lot of rallies in his time. But more importantly, he’s got a poor work ethic. This is the same man who showed up inexcusably out of shape when MLB resumed after the Covid break. When someone has to tell you to stay in shape because that’s your job, you’re not focused on winning at all costs.
The same was true of Gary Sanchez. He had a crap work ethic that should have seen him shipped out long before he was.
The Yankees don’t need players like that. Not only are they a drag on the effort, but also their example encourages others in a negative way. Players don’t have to get along, but they all have to be committed to winning. Without that type of dedication, teams rarely win it all and never against better competition.
Feet of Clay
I have no idea about Clay Holmes’ preparation or work ethic. I know he’s got great stuff. But I also know he too often failed in his closer role. He blew a league-high 13 saves last year because he too often messes up his mechanics and then can’t fix them during the game. And he’s weak-minded. He looks scared out there half the time, and his failures seem to bear that out. You could almost hear Yankees Universe groan every time he took the ball. Finally, the Yankees agreed and replaced him with Luke Weaver. It took one outing for everyone to see that no matter who had the better stuff, Weaver had the bigger stones.
So the Yankees let him walk, just like Torres. But something funny has happened since then. It seems as if both players are now considered elite.
For instance, I’ve heard pundits talk about how the Yankees' bullpen isn’t really better now because Holmes for Devin Williams is a lateral move. Excuse me? What world are these folks living in? They seem to forget that Holmes lost his closer job. Why do they think that is? Do they think it was a whimsical move made just for fun? The guy sucked as a closer. Yankees fans knew that months before Aaron Boone figured it out. And while I don’t think MLB’s Top Ten is the gospel, The Shredder is still a valuable evaluation tool. Williams is first on that list. Clay Holmes has moved to starter, but I doubt he’d crack the top twenty.
But, no, he’s a great player, and the Yankees will miss him. Yeah, like they’ll miss seeing him blow another big-game save. They’ll miss him just as much as watching Torres run himself into another out, or fail to run out a ball other players could turn into a hit.
Don’t get me wrong: Gleyber isn’t a bad player, and he’s certainly no scrub. Plus, his work out of the lead-off spot was excellent. But that can’t offset his other deficiencies, as noted above. The Yankees swapped out Torres for Jazz Chisholm; which Yankees fan would want to reverse that? Jazz brings a much more dynamic and focused style of play to the field than Torres ever showed. It seemed obvious after several years of watching Gleyber play that he’s a good player with serious weaknesses in his game.
A Yankees Fantasy League
But that’s not how some are seeing him. Most of the commentary praising him has been on TV, but this article from a site called Motociclismo–which seems overwhelmingly about motorsports–reflects many of the comments I’ve heard said:
The Detroit Tigers have been making waves with their offseason moves, and the signing of Gleyber Torres stands out as a potential game-changer. Torres, once a star with the New York Yankees, is now donning the Tigers’ colors, ready to make a significant impact in Detroit.
Oh, yeah, he’s a game-changer, all right...just not in the way they think. The headline was even more effusive:
The redemption of Gleyber Torres, once a Yankee, now a Tiger, ready to roar in Detroit and shake up the baseball world
Wow! Can we still get him back?
To be fair, this is the most extreme article I’ve found, written by seemingly nobody (AI?) What’s really driving this talk, of course, is that the Yankees might need another infielder. That’s had the haters snickering that the Yankees made a big mistake in letting Torres go. They seem to think nobody is a better fit than Gleyber. I agree. That’s why I would rather have nobody than Torres. I wouldn’t care if he won the lottery and agreed to play for free; he’s not good enough! The same is true for Holmes. I have no idea how he’ll do as a starter, but he has no place in the back end of a bullpen that’s trying to be elite.
My guess is he’ll have some dominant outings, which the ever-present Yankees haters will giggle about in columns and on MLBTV, and some real nightmare disasters. Holmes’ biggest issue is that he can’t fix his mechanics while on the mound. Those issues are likely to increase starting in June when his workload starts to wear him down.
But that’s the Mets' problem.
There is no question the Yankees are a much better team without those two players. I bear them no ill will, but the facts are the facts. But if revisionist history can make players better, then Torres is going to win the MVP.
Now, if I could only get my ex-girlfriends to give me the same treatment, I wouldn’t have to sit at home on a Saturday night writing these articles.
Now check out these articles from the Bomber Beat
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