It’s perhaps a slight overstatement, but it’s not entirely inaccurate to claim that the New York Yankees are dealing with an infield dilemma. Despite this, the Yankees should feel confident about their first base situation, where 37-year-old Paul Goldschmidt is excelling with an .854 OPS, and at shortstop, where Anthony Volpe has achieved four Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) along with a 115 wRC+.

The real issues surface when examining second and third base. DJ LeMahieu resumed his role as the starting second baseman after coming off the injured list on May 13, but the results have been underwhelming so far: in 18 games and 61 plate appearances, he’s posted a .236/.311/.309 slash line. Over at third base, Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been taking one for the team by playing there daily out of necessity. Jorbit Vivas and Oswald Peraza contributed little during their stints this season, and with Oswaldo Cabrera sidelined due to a fractured ankle last month, the Yankees had no real alternative but to shift Chisholm back to third, even though second base is his natural spot.

Nevertheless, he’s managed to hold his own, recording six Outs Above Average (OAA) in 436 1/3 innings since being traded from the Miami Marlins to New York at last year’s deadline, compared to zero over 36 innings in 2025. While not ideal, the Yankees could certainly manage with Chisholm at third for an extended period, as they did in 2024. However, as LeMahieu’s difficulties continue, the need for a competent second baseman with Chisholm at third has become more apparent, and the team might regret letting the ideal candidate in Gleyber Torres leave as a free agent last offseason.

Torres, acquired from the Chicago Cubs in the Aroldis Chapman trade in July 2016, was one of baseball’s top prospects before debuting in the majors. He impressed upon joining the Yankees in April 2018, earning All-Star honors in both that year and 2019 while batting .275/.338/.511 with 62 homers in 267 games during that span. However, Torres couldn’t maintain that level of performance later in his Yankees tenure, hitting .262/.330/.414 from 2021 to 2024, and it seemed he might benefit from a fresh start.

Following a .709 OPS and -11 DRS at second last season, the Detroit Tigers took a chance on the 28-year-old, signing him to a one-year, $15 million contract in December. The Tigers, building on their surprising playoff run last year, have started this season with the best record in the league at 42-23. Torres has been pivotal to their success, tying for the second-highest fWAR among qualified second basemen in the American League with 1.1 while hitting .263/.377/.392 in 223 plate appearances.

He’s been notably unlucky this year, supported by an expected weighted on-base average (.402), expected batting average (.294), and expected slugging percentage (.532) that indicate there’s more potential. Torres has remarkably improved his plate discipline, with walk (14.3 percent) and strikeout (12.1 percent) rates significantly better than his career averages of 9.4 and 19.8 percent, respectively. Additionally, he ranks in the 100th percentile for chase rate at 15.6 percent, according to Baseball Savant.

Realistically, the Yankees were unlikely to bring Torres back. They didn’t even make him an offer, according to his comments during his introductory Zoom call with Detroit, and the relationship between them seemed somewhat strained. Nonetheless, Torres would be a game-changer if he were playing second base for the Yankees instead of LeMahieu, and the organization might be reconsidering their decision to let him go.