Yankees Signing $49 Million Gold Glove Infielder Predicted to Fill Torres Role

The New York Yankees lost faith in the second baseman who had held down the position for them since his debut in 2018, when he was named an American League All-Star and placed third in Rookie of the Year voting. That second baseman, of course, was Caracas, Venezuela, native Gleyber Torres, who gave the Yankees seven years and then found himself a free agent who did not even receive an offer from New York that might have kept him there.

Torres went on to sign with the Detroit Tigers on a $15 million, one-year contract right after Christmas. So he’s all set. But what about his former team? With 33 days remaining before live spring training competition gets underway, the Yankees still appear to have no plan to replace Torres in the middle infield.

The Yankees showed “interest” in Gavin Lux, the second baseman who was part of the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers team that denied the Bronx Bombers their 28th World Series title last October. But the reigning champions went ahead and traded Lux to the Cincinnati Reds instead.

The defending AL champs were also reported to have held talks with Brendan Rodgers, a former Gold Glove infielder for the Colorado Rockies who entered the free agent market after Colorado declined to offer him a new contract rather than allow him a third year of arbitration eligibility. But those talks apparently went nowhere.

New Prediction Brings Korean Import to Bronx

A new prediction from Fox Sports, however, links the Yankees to another current free agent who would come at a higher price than either Lux or Rodgers would have — but a lower price than Torres. In this case, the projected price tag, according to the sports business site Spotrac, would be approximately $49 million over four seasons, an average annual payout of about $12.3 million — compared to the $15 million Torres commanded from Detrot. The player is former San Diego Padres second baseman Ha-Seong Kim.

“The Bronx Bombers need more guys who can get on base and create runs, and that’s where Kim can come in and put his savvy baserunning to use. Plus, his excellent plate discipline (18.6 percent chase rate in the 98th percentile, per Baseball Savant) will do wonders if he’s batting alongside Aaron Judge,” wrote Fox Sports MLB writer Deesha Thosar. “The Yankees don’t need more flashy free-agent signings now; they need a dynamic jack-of-all-trades Gold Glover like Kim who can quietly transform their offensive production.”

Kim won a Gold Glove at second base for San Diego in 2023. The South Korean import played seven seasons for the Kiwoon Heroes, a Korean Baseball Organization team based in Seoul (known for Kim’s first five seasons as the Nexen Heroes) before signing with the Padres in 2021. He is also able to fill in at third base, having played 94 games there for the Heroes and another 79 over his four seasons with the Padres.

Kim Was a Better Player Than Torres Last Year

The leading Yankees fan blog Bleeding Yankee Blue has also predicted that Kim will end up with the Yankees, and the blog’s writers have been on the Korean infielder’s bandwagon for most of the offseason.

“What are we waiting for!” they wrote on Frday. “While everyone else is still scratching their heads, wondering which free agent infielder the Yankees might snag, we’ve been over here at Bleeding Yankee Blue waving our ‘Ha-Seong Kim’ flags since early December.”

Kim compares favorably with Torres, as well. His Wins Above Replacement figure of 2.6 in 2024 was better than Torres, who accrued just 1,8 despite playing 33 more games than Kim. On a per-162-game basis, Kim outstripped Torres last season 3.5 to 1.9, meaning that Kim would represent a significant upgrade at a lower price

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin