Yankees Predicted to Replace Gleyber Torres With Former 3rd-Overall Pick

“Rodgers has never quite lived up to being the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 draft, but he has been a productive player when healthy,” Reuter wrote in his article listing Rodgers as a trade fit for the Yankees. “He won the NL Gold Glove at second base during a 4.3-WAR season in 2022, and he hit .267/.314/.407 with 29 doubles, 13 home runs and 54 RBI in 135 games this past season. He would team with Anthony Volpe to form one of the best defensive middle infields in baseball.”

Rodgers was selected third overall in the 2015 MLB draft by the Rockies. However, as Reuter writes, Rodgers would be more of a defensive player for the Yankees, rather than add offense to the lineup.

The second baseman has one year left on his deal that pays him $6.77 million.

Torres Wanted to be a Yankee For Life

Torres was acquired by the Yankees in the Aroldis Chapman deal from the Chicago Cubs in 2016.

The second baseman made his MLB debut with New York in the 2018 season. Torres has been a key figure for the Yankees and ahead of the 2024 season, which was the final year of his deal, the infielder said he wanted to be a Yankee for life.

“I don’t want to leave,” Torres said back in February. “I want to be a Yankee for life.”

Although Torres said he wanted to remain in New York, he admitted he wasn’t sure what his future was.

“I can’t lie,” Torres said. “I just think sometimes maybe that I’m starting my last year here because I don’t know what’s the business plan next year. But, man, it’s just like, motivate myself. Like I always say, we play for another team sometimes, and it’s a business.”

Torres ended up playing in 154 games for the Yankees in 2024 hitting .257 with 15 home runs and 63 RBIs. In the playoffs, he hit .241 with 2 home runs and 8 RBIs.

Yankees Errors Cost Team in World Series

If New York does trade for Rodgers, it would boost the Yankees’ defensive play. Rodgers won the Gold Glove in 2022 and committed only 8 errors last season.

In Game 5 of the World Series, the Yankees committed 3 errors which proved to be the difference as it led to Los Angeles tying the game in the 5th inning.

“We just took advantage of every mistake that they made that inning,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said after Game 5 about the Yankees errors. “We put some good at-bats together, we put the ball in play. A lot of people say ‘When you put the ball in play, things might happen.’ It happened to us in that inning and we scored five runs.”

The Yankees committed 90 errors as a team in 2024 and were led by Torres who committed a team-high 18.