11:07am: Torres is deciding between major league and minor league offers, Links tweets, and is looking for the right opportunity in making his decision.
10:29am: Reliever Carlos Torres is “very close” to signing with a new club, MLBTR’s Zach Links reports on Twitter, with the righty set to choose between three organizations. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN recently tweeted that a deal was expected by week’s end.
Torres could theoretically match up with any number of clubs. The Orioles have reached out to his reps at Full Circle Sports Management, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. The Twins seem a theoretical match, but are not involved, per Wolfson. We’ve also heard prior chatter that the righty has drawn interest from Asian teams, though it’s not clear whether that’s currently under consideration.
Torres, 33, recently elected free agency after he was outrighted by the Mets. The Full Circle Sports Management client had initially agreed to a $1.05MM salary to avoid arbitration with New York, and the club will remain on the hook for one sixth of that value ($175K) regardless of what Torres ends up earning with a new organization.
Last season was a rough one for Torres in the results department, as he ended with a 4.68 ERA. But a .326 BABIP-against and 65.3% strand rate probably impacted the results. And there were other indicators to suggest that he could still be much the same pitcher he was when he logged a 3.24 earned run mark over the prior two campaigns.
Torres posted a career-best 48.3% groundball rate, continued to exhibit good control (2.8 BB/9), and improved his average fastball velocity to 92.5 mph. He did see a slight drop in strikeouts per nine and swinging strike rate, but remained solid in those departments (7.5 K/9, 9.6% SwStr%). All told advanced metrics saw his 57 2/3 frames in much the same light as they did his work in 2013-14.
In the aggregate, it isn’t hard to see why there is interest in Torres. He ought to have every chance to compete for a job in camp, and promises to bolster the depth of any pen. It’s worth noting, too, that he ran up big innings totals in his first two years in New York (183 1/3 total frames), indicating that he could fill a long-man role if needed.
Mariners should sign, DFA Mayckol Guiape.
I hope the mets are one of those teams. He’s a nice piece in the bullpen and if he could be had on a split deal I’m all for it. Was kind of hoping for clippard to return.
Still remember how he started a game on 0 days rest. He’s got an absolute rubber arm but I would be worried he’s starting to get worn down.
Torres was simply not effective for the Mets last year. His strikeout rate and control were both off. He left balls up in the zone routinely. As such, he couldn’t be counted on in key 7th or 8th inning situations. While he was extremely versatile and dependable in his prior two years, Torres was relegated to a mop role towards the end of 2015 when Alderson had to make trades (Addison Russell, Tyler Clippard) to help fill the gap left by the non performance of both relievers named Torres on their roster.
I bet you guys wish you had Addison Russell lol
Woops – confused Addison Russell with Addison Reed. And, yes, I did seriously covet Addison Russell when the Metsies were struggling in the middle infield last year…I think he’s going to be a fantastic player for the Cubs.
Haha Ik, just playing around as a Cub fan. Nice to finally have a few guys other teams’ fans actually want
if it wasn’t for the minor league pieces that they have, he seems like a giants pickup, like they have in past years with mijares, penny, mota, gaudin, etc – turning around and getting the best out of relievers that had so-so years or were on the downslope.
Among not between
Why are the O’s going for this guy!? Don’t they have more pressing issues then adding to a already strong bullpen?