Free agent Gleyber Torres is in agreement with the Detroit Tigers on a 1-year, $15 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Torres had a great ALCS after a bit of down year on the power side for the Yankees. He'll start at 2b for Detroit. @JonHeyman was first with the agreement.
The Tigers sign Gleyber Torres to a one-year deal
Photo credit: © Vincent Carchietta - USA Today
Dec 27, 2024, 16:45 ESTUpdated: Dec 27, 2024, 16:42 EST
The New York Yankees saw a player depart the team.
On Friday morning, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported that Gleyber Torres has signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Detroit Tigers.
Torres was traded to the Yankees before the 2016 trade deadline and made his professional debut in 2018. That year, he slashed .271/.340/.480 with 24 home runs in 484 plate appearances for a 121 wRC+. Torres’ career year came in 2019, where he slashed .278/.337/.535 with 38 home runs in 604 plate appearances for a 125 wRC+ and a 3.4 fWAR.
His career-worst year came in 2021, but he rebounded nicely the past three seasons, including the 2023 season where he slashed .273/.347/.453 with 25 home runs for a 120 wRC+ and a 3.6 fWAR. Last season, he slashed .257/.330/.378 with 15 home runs in 665 plate appearances for a 104 wRC+ and a 1.7 fWAR. However, Torres finished the season well after moving to the lead-off spot in mid-August.
Defensively, Torres isn’t great, as he had -11 Defensive Runs Saved and -7 Outs Above Average in 1342.2 innings at second base. For his career, he has -14 DRS and a -24 OAA in 5313.1 innings at the position.
Torres joins a young, up-and-coming team that shockingly made the postseason in 2024. On Aug. 10, they had a 55-63 record, the same as the Toronto Blue Jays, but thanks to a 31-10 record to end the season, they broke their lengthy playoff drought.
Not just that, but the Tigers swept the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round, the first time since 2016 that the Astros didn’t make at least the American League Championship Series. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they fell to the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Divisional Series, before the Guardians fell to the Yankees in the ALCS.
All in all, this was a pretty good pickup for the Tigers, as they added a player who can hit around 25 home runs a season to their young lineup.
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