Yankees May Lose Out on $49 Million Gleyber Torres Replacement to NL West Club

As the New York Yankees continue their ongoing quest to replace second baseman Gleyber Torres, who held the position at Yankee Stadium for seven years before the organization simply let him go without even making him an offer that might keep him in pinstripes, they now may find themselves losing out to a struggling team in the Los Angeles Dodger-dominated National League West division.

Multiple experts have named the Yankees as an ideal landing spot for free agent San Diego Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. The former Korean Baseball Organization star would need to return to second base where he played most of 2023. On top of that issue, Kim will likely not be ready to play until May at the earliest as he rehabs from shoulder surgery that cut his 2024 season with the Padres short.

Despite the injury, Kim chose to enter free agency, declining an $8 million option that would have kept him in San Diego for another season. The news wasn’t all bad for Kim. He collected a $2 million buyout by choosing to turn down the option year. But he is taking his chances in a free agent market that seems to see his injury as a strike against him.

Yankees ‘Favorites’ to Sign Kim, Or Are They?

According to the sports business site Spotrac, Kim should collect a $49 million, four-year deal in free agency, but how his injury will affect that sticker price remains to be seen as Kim remains unsigned with 29 days until actual games begin in Spring Training.

According to the popular Yankees site Bleeding Yankee Blue the Yankees remain the “favorites” to sign Kim.

“The Yankees could use infield help, and Kim’s flexibility is exactly what they need,” wrote the site’s head writer Robert Casey. “It’s a match made in baseball heaven.”

But if the Yankees fail to move on a contract for Kim soon, they may lose out to the team that now apparently presents their toughest competition to acquire the former Kiwoom Heroes star who hit 30 home runs for that KBO team in 2020, his final year before signing with the Padres.

That team, according to the Last Word on Sports site, is the San Francisco Giants — a franchise that has made only two postseason appearances since winning its third World Series in a five-year span in 2014.

“Kim is still expected to have plenty of teams interested. None more so than the San Francisco Giants,” wrote Last Word‘s Alex Williamson on Monnday. “Despite playing all of 2024 at shortstop, one of Kim’s biggest strengths is his flexibility in the infield. A utility Gold Glove winner, Kim adds value defensively wherever he plays and has over 500 innings at third base, 1,000 at second, and 2,500 at shortstop. Not bad for a guy who was only posted in 2021.”

Oracle Park Would Accentuate Kim’s Doubles Power

The baseball analytics site Fangraphs also said that the Giants “make a whole lot of sense” as a destination for Kim, in an analysis of the 29-year-old’s market possibilities published on Wedbnesday. “They were reportedly in on Torres before he signed with Detroit, so we know they’re looking for help at second base, and we have their 2025 payroll at $25 million under their 2024 mark.”

Fangraphs also noted that Kim, who has hit 80 doubles in four years at San Diego’s PetCo Park, would benefit from the Giants’ home ballpark where “Oracle Park’s spacious outfield should help his doubles power play up.”

The Yankees will need to make Kim an offer sometime in the coming days because San Francisco may now be poised to do so, in an effort to improve on their 80-82 record from 2024 and make a return to the playoffs.

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