The New York Yankees have agreed to a $9.95 million, one-year contract with the 26-year-old Venezuelan professional baseball shortstop and second baseman, avoiding an arbitration hearing with the infielder by reaching a deal at the midpoint of proposed salaries.
The Yankees announced the deal on Sunday.
Torres hit .257 with 24 homers and 76 RBIs in 140 games for the AL East champions last year.
Torres had asked for a raise from $6.25 million to $10.2 million in arbitration, and the Yankees had offered the second baseman $9.7 million.
A two-time MLB All-Star, Torres made his big league debut with New York. He is a .265 hitter with 98 homers and 310 RBIs in 576 career games.
He was New York’s last remaining player in arbitration. Nine Yankees agreed just before the exchange of proposed salaries on January 13: right-handers Frankie Montas ($7.5 million), Clay Holmes($3.3 million), Domingo German($2.6 million), Jonathan Loaisiga($2,262,500) and Michael King($1.3 million); left-handers Wandy Peralta ($3.35 million) and Nestor Cortes ($3.2 million); and catchers Jose Trevino($2.36 million) and Kyle Higashioka ($1,462,500).
Twenty-nine major leaguers remain scheduled for hearings from Monday through February 17.
Giancarlo Stantonhelps propel the New York Yankees to the next round…
The 32-year-old part-Puerto Rican professional baseball designated hitter put the first runs on the scoreboard in the first inning in the deciding game between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday.
Stanton hit a line-drive home run on an 87.5 mph cutter from Cleveland starter Aaron Civale over the right field wall, scoring Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzoand putting the Yankees on top 3-0. Civale lasted one more batter, throwing just 26 pitches and recording a single out before Guardians manager Terry Francona gave him the hook.
In the end, the Yankees punched a ticket to the American League Championship Series with a 5-1 victory over Guardians.
The Game 5 victory capped a back-and-forth series in which the Yankees faced elimination in Game 4 in Cleveland and rain delayed multiple contests.
New York now faces off against the Houston Astros in a best-of-seven series that starts in Houston on Wednesday when Justin Verlanderand Jameson Taillon go head-to-head in Game 1. During the regular season, the Astros and Yankees finished with the two best records in the American League, respectively, while Houston took five of seven games against New York.
Gio Urshela has helped his team smash its way into the annals of Major League Baseballhistory.
The 27-year-old Colombian professional baseball player and his fellow “Bronx Bombers,” aka the New York Yankees, hit a home run in the top of the fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles to break the MLB record for most home runs by a team against a single opponent in one major league season.
Urshela’s homer, off a 97 mph sinker from reliever Miguel Castro that went over the left-center-field fence for a two-run shot, was the team’s 49th homer against the Orioles.
During their 14-2 win at Camden Yards on Wednesday, the Yankees went deep five times. That gave them 52 homers against Baltimore to smash the record.
The record-breaking 49th homer came in the top of the fifth inning, when Gio Urshela sent a 97 mph sinker from reliever Miguel Castro over the left-center-field fence for a two-run shot.
Urshela also homered in the sixth.
Catcher Kyle Higashiokawent deep in the fourth and ninth innings, and leftfielder Cameron Maybinlaunched a 436-foot solo blast in the ninth.
Higashioka’s fourth-inning homer off starter John Meanstied the MLB record held by the 1956 Yankees, who hit 48 homers against the Kansas City Athletics.
The Yankees have 11 players with multi-homer games against Baltimore this season, breaking the record of 10 set by San Francisco Giantsagainst the Los Angeles Dodgersin 1958.
“We have guys up and down the lineup who can hit the ball, so it is no surprise to see what we did,” Higashioka said. “It was nice to be a part of it.”
The Yankees finished 10-0 at Camden Yards. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it’s the 14th time in MLB history that a team has gone 10-0 or better on the road against an opponent and the first time since the 2002 Boston Red Soxwent 10-0 at the Tampa Bay Rays.
They have four games remaining against the Orioles this season, all next week in New York.
“Everyone has a lot of confidence, I think, in one another,” manager Aaron Boonesaid. “That’s the sense you get because we’ve proven throughout the year they can get it done throughout the lineup. Whether it’s been the bottom of the order, the middle, the top, it seems like it’s come from a lot of different places. They take a lot of pride in making it difficult on the pitchers and passing the baton and they have a lot of confidence in the guys in front of them and behind them.”
On Monday, the Yankees set a record by hitting their 32nd home run at Camden this season. That was the highest total by a visiting team at any stadium in one season, breaking the record of 29 held by the 1957 Atlanta Braves(at the Cincinnati Reds’ former Crosley Field).
They’ve only added to it since. Leading the barrage for New York is infielder Gleyber Torres, who has launched 10 of his 23 homers this season against the Birds. Nine of catcher Gary Sanchez‘s 24 home runs have been at Baltimore’s expense, and more than half of outfielder Clint Frazier‘s 11 dingers (six) have come against the O’s.
The Yankees slugged 17 home runs in their three-game sweep of the Orioles, hitting five on Monday and six on Tuesday. According to ESPN Stats & Information, they’re the second team in MLB history to hit five or more homers in three straight games, joining the 1977 Red Sox, who did so against the Yankees at Fenway Park.
The Yankees have hit 203 home runs this season, second in baseball behind the Minnesota Twins(224).
The Yankees announced the deal on Sunday.
