Top Landing Spots For Free Agent Gleyber Torres
Gleyber Torres may not have had a 2025 season that jumps off the page, but under-the-hood metrics suggest he may have more free agent suitors than you'd think.
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On the surface, Year one of Gleyber Torres‘ tenure with the Detroit Tigers seems mediocre, despite making his third career All-Star appearance.
Across 145 games, the impending free agent posted a .745 OPS and 113 wRC+ for a team that nearly nosedived entirely out of the postseason in 2025.
To a degree, Torres played the role of catalyst for that offensive dip, especially in September. He hit just .209 with a 22.8 percent strikeout rate all while slugging .314 in 101 plate appearances. Not only was it his worst month of the season, but it was also the cherry on top of what turned into a disappointing trend for the 28-year-old after a 145 wRC+ May.
And yet, the second baseman remains one of the more fascinating options this winter because the under-the-hood metrics look enticing.
While the dip in power raises some red flags, it’s not exactly foreign to his free agency case; he’s posted isolated power (ISO) numbers of .121 and .132, respectively, in his two contract seasons. That said, he placed 100th percentile for chase rate, 95th percentile for walk rate, and 88th percentile for expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA).
His Baseball Savant page tells a story we’re pretty familiar with regarding Torres: the dude can hit … and that’s more or less it. However, the defense returned to the higher end of below average — where it was in 2022 and 2023 with the New York Yankees — after dropping to fifth percentile for fielding run value in 2024.
The market’s pedigree up the middle is pretty scarce after Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette, with Torres holding the best resume (pending one’s opinion of San Diego Padres infielder Luis Arraez’s position).
Still, what’s the market for a soon-to-be 29-year-old bat-first second baseman?
Free Agent Profile: Gleyber Torres
- Age in 2026: 29
- 2025 Stats: 145 G, .256/.358/.387, 16 HR, 74 RBI, 113 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR
- 2025 Salary: $15 million
- Qualifying Offer Eligible: Yes
Contract Projection
- Contract Length Expectations: 2-4 years
- Expected AAV: $13-18 million
The qualifying offer (potentially) looming over Torres’ head this winter immediately becomes an interesting development. Given the unknown fate of the 2027 season, it’s hard to imagine Torres gambling on himself by accepting the $22.05 million.
On the other hand, how do teams feel about forfeiting a draft pick to obtain someone with negative defensive value?
For teams that balked at Torres when they had the chance to sign him to a longer-term deal in 2025, did he do enough to dispel some of the red flags?
With the dialogue surrounding what wins in October thanks to Toronto’s dramatic run to the World Series, there’s a growing emphasis on contact. Not sharp contact, just contact in general — putting pressure on the defense becoming more paramount. But that’s online discourse.
Yet, Tigers President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris made a point to mention in his end-of-year media session that Detroit will prioritize minimizing whiffs. So, there’s precedent that the noise online is at least simultaneously existing inside the four walls of an MLB team’s boardroom.
The window for earning power Torres has shrunk when he didn’t get a multi-year deal last winter. Projection-wise, perhaps another pillow-ish contract makes sense for him, but it comes with tremendous risk.
Test the market again as a free agent during a lockout, take on an option year, or sign for two years and test the market ahead of his age-31 season and potentially shortened contract year?
Those are only some of the questions Torres needs to answer for himself ahead of his second consecutive winter as a free agent.
Free Agent Landing Spots for Gleyber Torres
Detroit Tigers
There are several avenues that bring Torres back to the Motor City in 2026. For starters, the potential qualifying offer acts as a $7 million raise.
Second, his POBO described needing to emphasize having players who put more bat-to-ball. While home runs are impressive, they can’t lose sight of contact. Harris employed that player in 2025: Gleyber Torres.
Third, if a pillow contract is all Torres lands with this winter, familiarity could play a role as it then turns his one-year deal last winter into a pseudo-three-year deal.
The nuance surrounding Torres’ free agency aside, he fit that team very well in 2025. In 310 plate appearances, he slashed .285/.381/.449 with a 133 wRC+ at Comerica Park. Ironically, that’s his best Home wRC+ in a season outside of his rookie year (third-best OPS).
Comerica quietly was a top 10 ballpark for right-handed bats in 2025 for Ballpark Factor, even ranking higher than Fenway Park in that metric.
San Francisco Giants
Shoring up the second base position should be high up on the Giants’ priority board this winter.
Offensively, they are intriguing at several positions, and their lineup in general is pretty lengthy. Second base, however, was a mess for them in 2025.
The quartet of Tyler Fitzgerald, Casey Schmitt, Christian Koss and Brett Wisely combined for the 27th-ranked fWAR for second basemen (0.3). They also placed 27th in second base wRC+ (73).
When they signed Willy Adames last winter, and later traded for Rafael Devers, the Giants kickstarted a contention window. Unfortunately for them, they failed in Year 1 by missing the postseason. Adding another guy with postseason success, and someone with a track record in the regular season as well could help them narrow the gap between them and the final Wild Card spot.
This serves as theoretically Torres’ best shot to get the higher end of his contract projection. The Giants swing big and miss on big-name free agents on a near-annual basis. While the second baseman doesn’t come with the same notoriety of an Aaron Judge, he is arguably the best available player at a position San Francisco yearns for an upgrade.
Seattle Mariners
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!
It’s no secret the Mariners like guys who put the bat to the baseball; they just didn’t have enough of those guys to take advantage of pressure situations they put Toronto in during the ALCS.
While Jorge Polanco played a major role in getting Seattle to a winner-take-all game for the pennant, he finished in a 1-for-14 stretch. Now, he opened the series 5-for-12 with a homer and five driven in, but how he finished matters as he too is a free agent.
Potentially stalling this marriage is the rise of prospect Cole Young, who played 77 games at the MLB level in 2025. While he hit just .211 with a .300 xwOBA, he hit at every level in the minors including in 2025.
With JP Crawford at shortstop, the decision to pursue someone like Torres falls pretty much squarely on the organizational view of Young in 2026. However, it’d be a fun pairing, as it would’ve been last winter when they first chose Polanco over Torres in free agency.
Miami Marlins
Xavier Edwards took to second base in 2025, posting 12 Defensive Runs Saved and 9 Outs Above Average in 814.1 defensive innings. He also built off a strong rookie campaign by hitting .283 with 2.5 fWAR in 139 games.
Torres signing here to play second base wouldn’t make much sense. However, the Marlins were one of the game’s most exciting second half teams, taking real momentum into the offseason.
While not a team known for backing up the brinks truck, the Torres market feels like one they keep tabs on. If they want to solidify the designated hitter spot, that’s one pathway making this happen.
Additionally, looking at Torres’ defensive metrics, two things stand out: outs above averaging charging the ball, and going to his left. In 2025, he combined for +2 OAA on such plays, -7 on all others.
Perhaps a shift to third base could help increase the 28-year-old’s value. With Otto Lopez — 7 DRS, 4 OAA — at shortstop, Torres can hug the line a little bit and lean into a potential newfound strength moving to his left, while Lopez has more room to use his athleticism at short, and Edwards the same at second.
Miami needs some adults in the room. While the idea of Torres being the veteran at 29 is odd, it’s an opportunity to showcase leadership. Not only that, but he helps improve the floor of a young roster.
The National League East will be fun to keep tabs on these next few years. Miami has the chance to add to the intrigue with a few calculated moves.
Cleveland Guardians
Daniel Schneemann took charge as Cleveland’s primary second baseman, leading the team with 514.2 innings there. He also posted 3 DRS and 5 OAA but hit just .206 with a 79 wRC+ overall.
It feels like the Guardians always are a couple of bats away from being a real threat in a weak division. However, they never seem to land said bats.
It’s not always from a lack of trying, as they did trade for Lane Thomas in 2024. Their defect as a front office, though, is they never spend money. In fact, the last time they were top-20 in tax payroll was 2018.
The good news? Torres shouldn’t be expensive. Additionally, him becoming a contact-first bat who doesn’t chase fits the brand of baseball Cleveland plays. You could totally see him penciled into the three-hole behind Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez.
The bad news? The only Guardian making eight figures a season is Ramirez. While Torres at the lower end of his projected contract feels like a great return on investment, he’s an odd player for the Guardians to make the second richest on the roster.
Maybe that’s exactly why they’d do it.
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