Giants, Carlos Torres Agree To Minor League Deal

The Giants have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Carlos Torres, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). He’ll head to Triple-A Sacramento for the time being and will also have an opt-out date toward the end of the month.

Torres, 36, allowed five runs in six innings with the Tigers earlier this season but has had a solid season in Triple-A across three different organizations. He spent the month of July in the Twins organization and was selected to the MLB roster late last month, but he was designated for assignment before appearing in a game. Torres rejected an outright assignment with Minnesota and headed back to the open market.

In 48 1/3 frames in Triple-A this year, he’s pitched to a combined 2.79 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 between the Tigers, Twins and Padres organizations. Beyond that, Torres has a rather lengthy track record of solid work at the MLB level. While he only tossed 9 2/3 innings with the Nationals last season, Torres turned in a combined 3.52 ERA in just under 400 innings between the Mets and Brewers from 2013-17. His career strikeout and walk rates in the Majors are similar to the ones he’s posted in Triple-A this season, and Torres has typically generated grounders at an average or better rate (excluding the first two seasons of his career back in 2009-10).

The Giants plan to stretch Torres out a bit in Sacramento, perhaps with an eye toward giving them a multi-inning option at some point over the season’s final few weeks. Following the trades of Sam Dyson, Mark Melancon, Drew Pomeranz and Ray Black prior to last week’s deadline, there’s a bit of room on the San Francisco pitching staff should Torres acquit himself well in his fourth organization of the season.