After benching, Gleyber Torres comes across as more genuine than Aaron Boone
Yankees manager Aaron Boone walks to the dugout after a pitching change during the third inning against the Blue Jays in an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Gleyber Torres came back out and stood at the top step of the dugout after getting benched for failing to run out what ended up being a long single in the second inning of the Yankees 8-5 loss to the Blue Jays on Friday.
His eyes were rimmed in red, and still, he cheered. It was all he could do now that Aaron Boone finally had sat him after a few similar offenses. After the game, he stood in front of the media, tone apologetic, taking full responsibility.
“He did the right thing,” Torres said of his manager, offering no excuse for his own behavior. No, he’s not hurt. Yes, he thought it was a home run. No, he didn’t run it out, and no, it doesn’t matter that the ball was hit so hard, it might’ve been a single anyway.
“I feel really sorry for what I did tonight . . . I don’t want to be the bad part of the night,” he said.
You would be right to hammer Torres for not running it out: He came into the day hitting .231, his defense at second base has been subpar, he’s in a contract year and before the deadline, his name was consistently brought up in trade talks. But he doesn’t give the impression of a player who doesn’t care; he looks more like an athlete who’s lost his way and isn’t quite sure how to get it back.
Which is why Boone’s handling of the situation Friday was so curious. It’s not that he shouldn’t have benched Torres — in fact, there’s a good argument to be made that this was long overdue. It was more that Boone seemed ill-equipped to be the authority figure in this particular situation.
Torres went back out to play defense before getting lifted for Oswaldo Cabrera for the top of the fourth, and when questioned, a terse and stammering Boone said it was because he wanted to give Cabrera more time to get ready. Except . . . Torres’ was the second at-bat of the second inning, and the frame went on for plenty of time for Cabrera to get a glove and get prepared.
Boone, often searching for words, mostly refused to go into detail about the benching, and though we can’t read his mind, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that his words appeared to lack conviction.
“I just felt like I needed to [do that] in that spot,” he said, adding that Torres will play on Saturday. After a few more questions, he cut it short: “That’s it. That’s it,” he said. “I’ve said everything I want to say on it.”
Contrast that with Torres’ bald-faced contrition, or the fact that instead of running and hiding, he let the TV cameras catch him visibly upset but trying to be there for his teammates. Contrast that, too, with Aaron Judge’s full-throated support of his teammate.
“He’s not hiding from the camera, he’s not hiding from anybody, he’s not hiding from his mistakes,” Judge said. “He was right there. It speaks volumes to the type of person he is . . . He’s a leader in this clubhouse, and that’s what leaders do.”
This sport is hard enough to not give credit where credit is due: Torres showed a level of accountability and non-defensiveness that speaks to his character. And Judge, seemingly satisfied, made a promise on his behalf.
“Something like this isn’t going to happen again,” he said. “He takes pride in his work and his craft. He’s definitely not happy about what happened and I bet you the rest of his career, something like this isn’t going to happen again.”
All of which makes you wonder what took so long.
Boone said Wednesday night that he likes giving his players grace. When guys like, say, Josh Donaldson didn’t bust it out of the box in the past, they didn’t immediately earn a seat on the bench. But sometimes there’s grace in protecting people from themselves, in sending a message that certain behavior is unacceptable. Boone finally did that Friday, but it felt both late and reluctantly done.
For what it’s worth, Torres did truly, genuinely seem apologetic. He showed that by wearing his hairshirt for all to see, by apologizing to the fans and his team, and for letting the camera catch full sight of his tear-stained face.
“I’m a human being and I made an error,” he said. “I feel like, whatever I did tonight, I’m going to learn a lot. I just want to compete with my teammates, I want to play great and do 100% for my team.”
It was an honest moment, and handled well. And it was a lesson — not just for Torres but hopefully for Boone, too.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.