Yankees bench Gleyber Torres for ‘a few days’ amid nightmare season

In a move that stemmed from a series of factors – partly performance, partly disciplinary, partly an acknowledgment that continuing to play every day wasn’t working – the Yankees temporarily ruled out Gleyber Torres Is.

Torres, whose season spiral accelerated Tuesday with a poor game all the way, was ruled out of the starting lineup for Wednesday’s Subway Series finale with the Mets at Citi Field.

He will likely miss at least Thursday’s series opener in Toronto, with Aaron Boone saying he will give his everyday second baseman “a few days to reset here.”

Before Torres missed his second game of the season, the Yankees manager said, “He looked like he needed it.” “I think that’s very important, and I’m confident we’ll move forward.”

Torres, who missed his first 80 games, entered Wednesday’s game with a .215 batting average, 14th-worst among all MLB qualifiers.

He started the season with a career .789 OPS, which has fallen to .628.

His glove has been as bad as his bat, his 12 errors are the most by any second baseman this season and a missed grounder on Tuesday cost the Yankees a run.

His hustle also disappointed Tuesday when he failed to run out a softly hit ground ball in the eighth inning that might have been a closer game if he had tried harder.

After the game, Torres blamed the groin injury that had forced him out of last week’s game on tightness, he said. After the loss, Boone called Torres into his office and spoke to the 27-year-old.

According to Boone, Torres’ back problem is not “very significant”.

After Boone slept on it, he called Torres on Wednesday morning and alerted him of the plan to take a break. The lack of haste played a role in the decision.

“It’s definitely one of the things that caught my attention,” said Boone, who characterized it more as a relief than a punishment.

Boone employed the same strategy with Anthony Rizzo about two weeks ago, removing the first baseman from the lineup for a few games in hopes that Rizzo could turn off his mind and freshen up on the other side of the benching. Was.

Shortly after returning, Rizzo suffered a broken arm.

With Torres, there’s reason to wonder if his mind is getting in the way of his play.

He spent his first seven major league seasons with the Yankees and has openly stated that he would like to remain in The Bronx.

Torres is set to hit free agency this offseason, and the Yankees have already made it clear that retaining Juan Soto will be their top priority.

This was not the contract year Torres would have envisioned.

“Sometimes you need to get your mind out of the way a little bit,” Boone said of Torres, who was out of the lineup the night the Mets pitched a lefty (Sean Maneya), against whom righty hitters are common. Used to line up well.

Osvaldo Cabrera played second base and batted ninth, with DJ LeMahieu starting at third base.

Boone said Torres respects the decision. Torres himself said Tuesday that his first half has been “bad” and that “everything” about his game so far has been disappointing.

The particular timing of this prolonged recession is also potentially disappointing. The Yankees have lost Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton, which has put more of a burden on the shoulders of players like Torres.

Before being benched, Torres had managed just 2 for 29 in his last nine matches.

“The thing is, he’s working really hard,” Boone said. “Sometimes a little trauma can go a long way.”