NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was removed Friday night from an 8-5 loss to Toronto by manager Aaron Boone for not hustling, sending a message to the clubhouse of a team that has struggled since mid-June.
Torres did not run hard out of the batter’s box on his 110.7 mph drive off the left-field wall in the second inning, thinking it was a home run, and reached only first base with a single. That cost the Yankees a run when he was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Anthony Volpe’s two-out double into the left-field corner.
Boone and Torres had a discussion on the dugout steps before the fourth inning as Torres tried to persuade the manager to keep him in the game. Oswaldo Cabrera took over at second base.
“I just felt like I needed to in that spot,” Boone said. “I’m not going to get too down the rabbit hole of making judgments on this one. I just felt like in that moment, I felt like I needed to do that. Simple as that. It is what it is. It’s over with. We’ve got to move on. He had I have spoken and hopefully this is a great learning moment for all of us.”
Torres was apologetic when speaking with media after the game.
“I think he did the right thing, especially in the moment,” Torres said of Boone. “I feel really sorry for whatever I (did) tonight, especially for the fans and also for my teammates. I’m a human being and I make an error and I feel like for whatever I do tonight, I’m going to learn a lot.”
Yankees captain Aaron Judge said Boone's message was received.
“If you’re not doing your job, you’re going to be out of there,” Judge said. “He’s made that clear to us and definitely made it clear today. If I know Gleyber, something like this ain’t going to happen again. He takes pride in his work, in his craft and he’s definitely not happy about what happened.”
A 27-year-old in his seventh major league season, Torres was an All-Star in 2018 and '19 but has struggled since. He is batting .233 with 10 homers and 42 RBIs, raising his average by hitting .250 in July.
Boone’s exchange with Torres was captured by a YES Network camera.
“Maybe it looked bad, but, it was a conversation, just tried to understand what happened in the moment,” Torres said. “I have to be more mature in that situation and just play hard.”
Boone said Torres will be in the lineup Saturday. He said he allowed Torres to play the field in the third inning because he didn't want to surprise Cabrera with a quick entry to the game.
Boone defended his decisions not to pull other players who haven't hustled.
“Everyone’s going to make judgments on this guy, that guy. The reality is I have a ton of grace, because a lot of people don’t know the whole story on every situation and what guys are dealing with," Boone said. "I think it’s one of the more overrated things defining a player that plays hard or not, is that part of it. It is a important part of it, but, yeah, we can go back and pull this one, why didn’t you pull on this one? The reality is those guys, including Gleyber, play their asses off.”
Judge credited Torres with owning up to his mistake, returning to the dugout to cheer for his teammates with the Yankees trailing and for speaking with reporters to admit he was at fault.
“It speaks volumes of the type of guy he is deep down.” Judge said. “He could have ran and hid and saw you guys tomorrow, but he was out there front and center.”
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New York Yankees' Gleyber Torres, right, is tagged out at home plate by Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brian Serven, left, during the second inning of a baseball game, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
The Trump administration has put a freeze on many federal health agency communications with the public through at least the end of the month.
In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dorothy Fink told agency staff leaders Tuesday that an “immediate pause” had been ordered on — among other things — regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts until such communications had been approved by a political appointee.
The pause also applies to anything intended to be published in the Federal Register, where the executive branch communicates rules and regulations, and the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientific publication.
The pause is in effect through Feb. 1, the memo said. Agencies subject to the HHS directive include the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration — entities that fight epidemics, protect the nation's food supply and search for cures to diseases.
HHS officials did not respond to requests for comment on the pause, which was first reported by The Washington Post. Four federal health officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the issue confirmed the communication pause to the AP.
A former HHS official said Wednesday that it’s not unusual for incoming administrations to pause agency communications for review. But typically, officials working on the president’s transition team have the process for issuing documents running smoothly by inauguration day.
“The executive branch is a hierarchy,” said Steven Grossman, who now consults for food and drug companies, in an email. “Whether stated publicly or not, every new administration wants important commitments and positions to wait until new teams are in place and some semblance of hierarchy restored.”
During his first term, President Donald Trump’s political appointees tried to gain control over the CDC’s MMWR journal, which had published information about the COVID-19 pandemic that conflicted with messaging from the White House.
A consumer advocacy group said the communications pause could threaten public safety.
Americans depend on timely information from the CDC, the FDA and other agencies to avoid foodborne illnesses and stay aware of other health issues, said Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
“When it comes to stopping outbreaks, every second counts,” Lurie said in a statement. “Confusion around the vaguely worded gag order is likely to lead to unnecessary delay in publishing urgent public alerts during active outbreaks.”
Fink wrote in her memo that some exceptions would be made for communications affecting “critical health, safety, environmental, financial or nation security functions,” but that those would be subject to review. The FDA on Tuesday and Wednesday posted notices about warning letters sent to companies and a drug safety notice.
AP health writer Matthew Perrone in Washington contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press as Director Robert Redfield, right, looks at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, March 6, 2020. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, file)
FILE - President Donald Trump talks about drug prices during a visit to the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, Oct. 25, 2018. HHS Secretary Alex Azar listens at right. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, file)