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I nearly didn’t write this post.  Wasn’t that I didn’t have love for Gleyber Torres.  Though, my love for Gleyber is admittedly less coalesced into an actual thing than you’re gonna find from just about any Yankees fan.  “Ya godda be fahkin jokin wit me right here, kid.  Gleyber Torres is gonna be the greatest of all-time, son.  All.  Time.  I wanna coalesce my fist into ya fahkin head with your sissy-boy words.  Why don’t ya use a word like fuhgeddaboudit?  Scared of being too real?  Before you answer, I need to go with my mom to have her mustache waxed.”  That’s your run-of-the-mill Yankees fan.  See, Gleyber is already being fitted for Monument Park in Yankee Stadium before he even plays a game.  By the way, fitting someone for Monument Park is like how Jabba the Hutt fit Han Solo for carbon.  Little known fact, Monument Park in Yankee Stadium is the only place in the MLB where players are immortalized by being buried there.  Kidding…or am I?!  You need to Google it to verify the answer, don’t lie.  Any hoo!  Brian Cashman said the other day Gleyber Torres would get every opportunity to win the 3rd base job in Spring Training.  Chase Headley said, “I have a love letter from a Padres fan named, Jay Wrong, that says I should be playing 162 games a year.  On the reg.”  So, what can we expect from Gleyber Torres for 2018 fantasy baseball?

I’m of two minds hearing a 21-year-old is going to win the starting 3rd base job for the Yankees.  Hey, look at me, I’m Dr. Hfuhruhurr from The Man with Two Brains.  My first mind says the Yankees will just sign a stopgap if they don’t want to start Headley, and this post will be irrelevant by January.  My 2nd mind, which is located much lower than my first mind, tells me the Yankees had huge success promoting a rookie last year — *cough* Aaron Judge *cough* — so maybe that confidence will spill over to bringing up Gleyber.  A part of me (that uses my first mind) didn’t even think this was going to be an option because Gleyber had Tommy John surgery this past year, and missed about half the season.  I would’ve thought the Yankees would want a 21-year-old to get at least a half season at Triple-A.  Last year, in 55 games between Double and Triple-A, he hit 7 HRs, stole 7 bases and hit .287.  When he first comes up, I’d put his skill set around that.  He was swinging and missing a lot in Triple-A (27.1% strikeout rate), but we can’t take much away from a 23-game stint.  In a few years, he could be a perennial All-Star that notches 25/25/.290 seasons, but he’s not there yet.  “Please, let me slam your head into this fahkin tanning bed.”  Not now, Yankees fan.  Hard to say what the Yankees are going to do with Gleyber, but, by saying he could win the Opening Day job, makes me think he’ll be up in June; prior to that Cashman comment, I thought Gleyber would be saved until September.  For 2018, I’ll give Gleyber Torres the projections 45/7/41/.277/12 in 364 ABs with a chance for much more.