Reliever Carlos Torres has agreed to a deal with the Braves, reports Jim Seimas of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, who adds that he chose Atlanta over the Yankees and Dodgers (Twitter link). Bill Shanks of FOX Sports Radio and the Macon Telegram tweets that it’s a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Torres will give the Braves an option either in their rotation or bullpen, though the latter seems more likely based on his lack of recent rotation experience. The rebuilding Braves have a wide-open bullpen picture, with right-handers Arodys Vizcaino, Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson as the locks to factor into the relief corps. Beyond that trio, the likes of Mike Foltynewicz, Daniel Winkler, Ryan Weber and Shae Simmons (who is recovering from February 2015 Tommy John surgery) all represent right-handed options on the 40-man roster. Non-roster invitees that will be competing with Torres include David Carpenter, Alexi Ogando, Jhoulys Chacin and Chris Volstad, among others.
The 33-year-old Torres has spent the past three seasons with the Mets, pitching to a combined 3.59 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate in 241 innings (155 relief appearances, 10 starts). However, his solid production took a step backward in 2015, as he posted a 4.68 ERA in 57 2/3 innings, which led the Mets to designate Torres for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for Antonio Bastardo, who signed a two-year deal with the reigning National League Champions. Torres ultimately elected free agency after clearing outright waivers. Because Torres and the Mets had already agreed to a one-year, $1.05MM contract to avoid arbitration, the Mets were responsible for 30 days of termination pay on that non-guaranteed arb deal — a total of about $172K.
I know there’s an absurd culture of racing to break stories on signings these days, but this really goes beyond the pale. “Torres signs some contract for some amount with some team” isn’t a news story.
A deal is on the brink of being signed. No reason not to share that info with MLBTR readers.
Dude, MLBTR is usually the first place you hear anything… Here the news is as fresh and hot as granny’s cookies.
You’re new here aren’t you
I disagree. I find it interesting when writers from MLBTR break stories. Even on relatively minor signings like this. What I don’t really care for is how other writers on the site then treat the story like it was broken by an unaffiliated random writer. Would saying something like “our own Zach Links broke the story with a tweet” really be a terrible thing? It seems like when the writers here break a story they are almost disowned for some reason. Love MLBTR though and everything else about the site.
Definitely love MLBTR in general. But “hey, he’s signing with an unknown team soon” isn’t breaking a story. If you can’t answer the first of the W questions yet, you don’t have a story.
What does the R in MLBTR stand for again?
Mets 2 years 3 million
He got designated on a 1 yr 1 mil contract…
Lol
Does Torres know which team, or is this like buying an airline ticket on Expedia? (slaps own knee)
I hope the Twins sign him, or anyone. I’m afraid the bullpen is going to be a special kind of ugly this year.
I just lol’d at the (slaps own knee)
I crack myself up!
Rhymes with Hatlanta…
*swish*
Probably the White Sox. They’re picking up the scraps after missing out on every notable player
Kinda strange that a reporter from the Santa Cruz Sentinel would be the one to break the story on a very minor free agent signing by Atlanta. I used to live there and it isn’t a very sports heavy town, although they do have the Warriors D League team.
Carlos Torres is from that area.
He lives in Santa Cruz. I’m from that area too
Ah, interesting. He is my same age and went to Aptos High. Have some friends that probably went to school with him.
This is really not much a surprise as he would almost certain get playing time in Atlanta given there open roster spots. Hope he can turn things around.
A lot tougher than you think. The Braves have a looooooot of arms gunning for those spots
any other former met the braves will sign this offseason? torres & torres & johnson..
Bobby Bonilla
Braves DID sign Johnson. =}
Here is what happened to Torres I think. He was pitching great with an ERA in the mid 3’s heading into late July. He was made to throw 109 pitches over a 7 day stretch. Must have had a physical problem because he then made only 1 appearance over the next 2 weeks. The from mid August he had a stretch of 10 games with a 12+ ERA. which led to his release
Abused and discarded. Apparently his medicals scared folks off, thats all I can think of because his overall numbers suggest he is still a pretty decent RP’er
Why Braves? Why?
Why not?