So why wasn't Gleyber traded?

Professional ballplayers are in a unique position in our economy. Yes, they're contract workers, backed by the strongest unions in this country. But they're also assets, prone to dramatically increase or decline in value. 

Hal Steinbrenner's refusal to recognize this has led to the Yankees' drop in performance over the last 15 years, and will continue to cut the legs out from under us in the years ahead.

As our Peerless Leader pointed out, The Gleyber's decline was sudden and swift. After an outstanding minor-league career and two stellar seasons in the show, the bottom dropped out.

In three of his last five seasons, Torres has led the AL in errors, both at shortstop and at second. And in three of those last five years, Gleyber had more errors than he did home runs. We needn't get into how, for months at a time, he was the single worst performing, day-to-day player in the majors, or his now legendary inability to pay attention on a ballfield.

Yet for all of that, there were periods when Gleyber seemed to regain his power stroke, and when his OPS shot upwards again. At times, he was ranked at or near the top of all American League second basemen, a statistic that probably speaks more to the weakness of the league, but never mind. 

The Yankees insisted that they tried to trade Torres but could find no takers—a claim that is impossible to believe. It is belied, first of all, by the fact that Detroit just gave him the same amount of money he was making in New York. 

The Yanks could not have, say, slip Gleyber into an imaginative deal for Juan Soto back in 2022, the first time he was traded? They couldn't have offered him up for a gross of magic beans? More likely, they couldn't find the completely one-sided deal that Brian Cashman always prefers (and never gets).

In the meantime, Gleyber would have been easy to replace by the likes of Thairo Estrada (sent to San Francisco for cash on the barrelhead), or Ezequiel Duran and Josh Smith (traded to Texas for Joey Gallo), or any of the Slew of Shortstops up for free agency, who might have been converted to second.

Didn't happen. And it didn't happen primarily because that's not what the Yankees do, or how they think of ballplayers.

Look at the likes of Estavan Florial, or so many others relegated to rot in Triple-A or on the Yankee Stadium bench, rather than be dealt somewhere. Look at Sonny Gray, a flop in New York but a valued commodity elsewhere, who they all but gave away (Shedd Long, anybody?).

The Yankees don't pull off good trades because they don't think of their players as assets, but rather as employees at Hal's luxury lifestyle destination.

Someone like a Juan Soto who showed a lot of pep out there at poolside, but wanted too much money? Good luck applying over at Club Flushing! 

Loyal retainers like Anthony Rizzo or Giancarlo Stanton or D.J. LeMahieu who have grown a little long in the tooth? Hey, a contract's a contract. They have to keep schlepping out there no matter how many times they spill the drinks on the guests, or stick their thumbs in the guacamole dip.  

They will stay with the Yankees until the bitter end, or beyond—Jacoby Ellsbury, am I right?—when they will be given a farewell banquet, a firm handshake, and a gold-plated watch.

A few fall into other categories, such as those, like Anthony Volpe, who become a little sparkle in a certain general manager's eye. Or that Judge fella, who was on his way out the door for more money, but just couldn't bear to leave the old stand.

But it's the same in the end. Players are never acquired or jettisoned in anticipation of their rise or decline.

The Yankees are never ruthless innovators, cutting fat and wrecking old models of business in the name of a bold new vision. Nor are they some gold-solid, mentoring firm, recruiting and nurturing brilliant new talent that will transform the industry. 

They are simply an increasingly shabby resort for old Euro royals from minor countries, shady Russian oligarchs, or assorted high-rolling, bling-laden sports who haven't got the message yet that the dogs have barked, and the caravan has moved on.