The freefalling Yankees are remaking their infield on the fly with three weeks left in the regular season, finally moving Gleyber Torres over to second base.
“Try to take a little pressure off him,” Boone said of the switch to second for Torres, who has been awful lately at short. “We’ll give that a look.”
With Torres at second — at least for the time being — DJ LeMahieu will see more time at third base after recovering from a triceps injury, allowing him to make the longer throw. And while Tyler Wade is starting at short on Monday against the Twins in The Bronx, Boone added Gio Urshela would get more time at short for the time being.
Boone said he’d talked to Torres earlier in the season about considering it and when he revisited the topic Monday, the manager said Torres was “ready to go.”
Boone is also looking for something — anything — to turn his team around after losing eight of nine and seeing them fall out of a playoff spot.
“I hope it gives us the best look and gives us a spark,” Boone said.
That’s true of Torres, as well.
“The past week he’s struggled out there and it’s definitely weighed on him,” Boone said of Torres’ subpar play on defense. “I think sometimes [his struggles] become such a story, one play becomes a narrative for a long time and at time, it’s been really unfair. There have been large chunks [of time] when he’s had really steady play.”
The timing of the move is perhaps not ideal, since Andrew Velazquez was just sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Sunday’s starter, Clarke Schmidt.
Leave a Reply