World Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees - Game 5World Series – Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees – Game 5 / Alex Slitz/GettyImages

Since Gleyber Torres’ departure from the Yankees hit its first fever pitch of inevitability — sometime in 2022 — it has always felt likely that he’d wind up with either a division rival or the New York Mets, poised to deliver a sting several times per year. Call it the Luis Severino Theory.

If Torres winds up completely irrelevant to the day-to-day experiences of the fandom, it’ll be stone-cold stunning. No, he’ll be somewhere that forces you to watch and think about him. That’s a guarantee.

While Brian Cashman seems comfortable thanking Torres for his services (while hinting that he does some key things … not so well), the Toronto Blue Jays reportedly remain undeterred.

According to Toronto insider Ben Nicholson-Smith, the Blue Jays are “expressing interest” in Torres, though their level of seriousness remains to be determined. Will the Yankees’ October leadoff hitter follow in Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s footsteps?

Yankees could lose Gleyber Torres to Toronto Blue Jays

Presumably, this would take the Blue Jays out of the Juan Soto market. Kidding … unless you’re gon’ do it?

Pending a mid-career reversal, Yankees fans are entirely clear on what Torres will eventually provide his new team: a 110ish OPS+ with moderate pop and some flashes of the clutch gene. Smooth defense in moments big and small, followed by some of the most perplexing lapses you’ve ever dealt with from afar, again in moments big and small. Base running that flips back and forth between aggression and malaise. Two to three head-clearings per season. Toronto even got an up-close view at Gleyber Being Gleyber when Marcus Stroman berated him on their turf, which he followed up with an offensive rebound.

In other words, Torres will play just well enough to be aggravating on numerous head-to-head occasions, but probably won’t make the Yankees regret his departure from their balance sheet, at the end of the day.

Still, if there was ever a departing free agent hell-bent on remaining in the Yankees’ lives (for the worse), it would be Torres, who became a lightning rod for fan punishment throughout the latter half of his tenure, even though most of the scorn was either misguided or should’ve been delivered to a wider swath of inconsistent Yankees. Toronto makes all the sense in the world.