Aaron Judge's ex-teammate Gleyber Torres makes frustration clear with Yankees for failed deal

Aaron Judge became a regular with the New York Yankees in 2017. Gleyber Torres became a regular in 2018, and both were Rookie of the Year finalists, with Judge winning the award but Torres falling short of it to Shohei Ohtani.

They represented two major parts of the "Baby Bombers" movement where young players marked the Yankees and hit a lot of home runs. Gary Sanchez was another key piece.

Now, it's just Judge left after Torres signed with the Detroit Tigers in free agency, and he's not pleased with how his Yankees tenure ended. He said via the New York Post:

“I feel I deserve to be with an organization that wants me. I’m here now and that’s the reason I’m here.”

Torres went 1-3 with a home run, a walk, and two runs score in a spring game before discussing this. He was asked if he felt that he was no longer wanted, and he said:

“I don’t know. Maybe you can ask him.”

"Him" here would be in reference to Brian Cashman, the Yankees general manager. He's the one who swung the deal to trade for Torres (sending Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs) in 2016 and the one who decided not to re-sign the second baseman after the 2024 season.

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Gleyber Torres was reportedly unwilling to switch positions for Yankees

After coming up as a shortstop and performing poorly there, the Yankees moved Gleyber Torres to second base. He was their starter at that spot for the better part of his seven-year tenure.

Gleyber Torres left the Yankees (Imagn)

When the Yankees acquired star second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., they envisioned putting him at second and moving Torres to third, but that didn't happen.

According to Brian Cashman, it's because Torres refused. He said via SNY:

“When I acquired Jazz, I acquired Jazz to be our second baseman and move Gleyber [Torres] to third the rest of last year. [Manager Aaron Boone] wanted to do it the other way. He moved Jazz to third after we got him and kept Gleyber [Torres] at second because Gleyber didn’t want to move to third and was unwilling.”

Chisholm Jr. ended up playing well at third, but this could've played a role in the fracture that led to the end of the relationship between Torres and the Yankees.