Latest On Torrealba/Castro Situation

I'm pretty passionate about baseball - that should at least get me a million a year or so, right?

"Torrealba’s main value is that he has passion, he has leadership qualities and he worked wonders with their pitchers."

This is kind of a nice way of saying "he can't hit, can't run, and can't throw", right?

I'm curious to find out why people think Yorvit is a starting catcher but Ramon isn't. Yorvit proved last season that he's not a good catcher. The guy hit .212 away from Coors, and wasn't good defensively. I think it's just a case of Omar Minaya proving why he doesn't deserve to be a GM.

Like Moises Alou? Give me a better reason...

If all they want is a back up wouldn't it be wiser to give Kendall $1-2 mil for 1 yr?

Alou is one of the best outfielders in baseball. When healthy, he's an all-star caliber player.

Comparing him to Castro is a joke.

You obviously didn't read what I said. I was making the point that if we're so scared by signing someone who has had injury problems, why would we sign Moises Alou? Using the "injury" excuse against Ramon Castro is enabling Omar to give $15 mil to a guy who is lucky to be playing in the major leagues. It's the same excuse the Mets made a few years ago when they were pursuing Vlad Guerrero -- and no, I'm not comparing Ramon Castro to Vlad Guerrero.

Ramon Castro was a big-time catcher prospect. Sometimes players never get a chance to start (i.e. Jack Cust), and that could be due in injuries, but it can also be due to being blocked or bad luck (GM's signing inferior players or superior players). Essentially, making Castro the starter is smarter than making him the backup to Yorvit.

"Essentially, making Castro the starter is smarter than making him the backup to Yorvit.

Posted by: moebarguy | November 15, 2007 at 01:12 PM "

My understanding, according to what people like Rosenthal are saying, is that they would more split the role then anything. Not really a platoon situation, but use each other to keep each other fresh. So you could be getting your wish and still criticizing the Mets FO.

Lo Duca's OPS+ last year was 80, the same as Torrealba's career mark. PLD will be 36, Torrealba will be 29. The Mets won't be getting any better at catcher, but they won't be getting appreciably worse.

Three years is a dumb idea, though.

"Lo Duca's OPS+ last year was 80, the same as Torrealba's career mark. PLD will be 36, Torrealba will be 29. The Mets won't be getting any better at catcher, but they won't be getting appreciably worse.

Three years is a dumb idea, though."

Exactly. I don't think it's an upgrade or anything like that (And if it is it's a slight one at best), but it was a crappy free agent market and people like the Orioles are demanding a 'High-End' prospect for Ramon F'n Hernandez in the trade market. It won't be nearly as bad when either the Rockies or the Marlins sign Lo Duca to pretty much the same deal in the next week (And hopefully at least nets the Mets a sandwich pick in the process, which in itself will probably be more valueable then Lo Duca or Torrealba).

Who was a better option? Honestly, I don't see PLD putting up better numbers than Torrealba next year, taking both offense and defense into account. At least Torrealba is 29 years old and not starting to break down.

I'm not thrilled he's getting 3 years (hoping for 2 and an option), and he's definitely getting too much money, but I can't fault Omar here. His options were limited.

And you ignoramuses that think Minaya is trying to assemble an all-Latin squad are an embarrassment to baseball.

85 games of Torrealba + 75 games of Castro > 115 games of Lo Duca + 45 games of Castro.

Sounds like Minaya is a racist to me. Of course no media person will accuse him because he's not white. Could you imagine if a white person did something like this? They would be hammered by everyone, sued, and fired. Oh, the hypocrisy of our country.

"Could you imagine if a white person did something like this?"

No that just stretches the imagination, just the idea is way to much to get my head around. Trying to envision a white guy in baseball management only hiring white guys? Holy crap its like a sci-fi novel.

Trade propositions to Minaya:

- John Maine and Lastings Milledge for Johan Santana

- David Wright for Miguel Cabrera

And you create 2 holes to fill one hole, and spend approximately 25Mil trin to find a strting number 3 pitcher and a starting right fielder. I wouldn mind going into the season with Maine, Pedro, Perez, El Duque and Pelfrey. Just sure up the pen because that is how games are won these days. It is interesting to me that Minaya is called a racist by a fan who looks as if he is a braves fan, ironically with a user name called the chop. Didnt the braves used to have an indian dance around in CF when they hit a home run? So now Minaya is racist... because he gives a younger version of lo duca the same money the real lo duca will get? Yes, the same lo duca whois trshed on this website all of the time. This is the Mets. They havent made a big time signing since Wagner after 05. They cant afford to pay 5 mil to a catcher now? Wow. Fact is, there were no better options out there, so they got what they could. The fact that they payed 5 mil for him is about as relevant to their payroll as the money they are continuing to pay bobby bonilla

Yikes. This sounds like the Romero signing to me:

"We have a hole, so we're going to vastly overpay for one of the best of several mediocre options, rather than fill it cheaply and spend our money more efficiently."

Billy Beane is laughing his ass off somewhere right now...

Like someone else said, wouldn't you prefer Castro with Kendall or Molina as the backup, and have an extra $12M or so in the bank?

"And no, Arodsucksatlife, there is no one like that now. If there was, the media would completely ruin their life. But since its not a white person, they arre ignored. Sounds pretty racist to me."

Hmm.... I can't think of a single white GM like that. Not one that...you know.... drafts almost exclusively white players out of his teams hometown...can't think of a single example.

The ignorance here is disgusting. The Braves have nearly exclusively drafted Atlanta native white players for the past few years, and John Schurholtz (sp?) was regarded as possibly the best GM in the game.

Its called marketing. A GM's job isn't exclusively to build a good team, its also to sell tickets (actually to generate revenue, but having a good team and selling tickets can be a way to accomplish that). In Atlanta, where there are a lot of community lifers, that means home grown players. In NY, where the latin community is giagantic, that could mean Latin players. Sure, it could also mean jewish or black players, but there just aren't nearly as many playing the game right now.

Its not Omar's fault that such a large percentage of players in baseball are Latin, nor is it his fault that having Latin players on his team generates hometown interest. Does he like Latin players? Maybe. Does he dislike players of other races? Maybe he does. But to make that point, I'd point harder towards his relationships with players of Asian heritage than I would his knack for picking up Latinos.