Luis Torrens Opts Out Of Minors Deal With Nationals
Catcher Luis Torrens is back on the open market, as Talk Nats indicates the 27 year old has exercised a clause in the minor league deal he signed with the Nationals back in May that allows him to return to free agency if not added to the roster by July 1.
The decision leaves Torrens poised to search for what would be his fourth organization of the 2023 campaign. After signing a minors deal with the Cubs back in January, Torrens made the Opening Day roster in Chicago but appeared in just 13 games before being designated for assignment and swapped to the Orioles at the beginning of May. The Orioles then designated Torrens for assignment the following week, leading the catcher to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.
From there, Torrens signed on with Washington on a minor league deal, and posted a decent .258/.311/.470 slash line in 74 plate appearances with the club’s Triple-A affiliate. Still, with Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams entrenched as the club’s catching tandem at the big league level and Drew Millas acting as serviceable depth in the upper minors, there wasn’t a clear path to the big leagues for Torrens with the Nationals, prompting him to return to the open market.
Considering Torrens’s relative youth and unique developmental track as a former Rule 5 draft pick, he figures to receive interest from clubs on a minor league deal, particularly considering the importance of having ample catching depth available. That importance has been showcased at various points through this season by the woes of teams such as the Padres, Mets, Giants, and Angels behind the plate. Torrens isn’t the only intriguing depth option who could be available behind the plate, however, as Jorge Alfaro, who the Rockies designated for assignment yesterday evening, could also return to free agency in the coming days should he clear waivers and reject an outright assignment.
Nationals Sign Luis Torrens To Minor League Contract
The Nationals have signed catcher Luis Torrens to a minor league deal, the club announced. Washington also confirmed its previously reported signing of designated hitter Franmil Reyes to a non-roster pact.
Torrens joins his third organization of 2023. He opened the year with the Cubs on a minor league deal and cracked the Opening Day roster. Working as a third catcher, he appeared in 13 games and hit 22 times before being designated for assignment. The Cubs traded Torrens to the Orioles for cash but he spent just a few days in Baltimore prior to being DFA for a second time. After going unclaimed on waivers, he chose minor league free agency and heads to Washington.
It’s a sensible depth add for the Nats. Washington saw veteran backstop Kevin Plawecki opt out of a minor league deal earlier in the week. Torrens will take his spot as a veteran catcher at Triple-A Rochester. He has appeared in parts of six MLB seasons. Torrens’ best year came with the Mariners in 2021, when he hit .243/.299/.431 with 15 home runs in a career-high 378 plate appearances. He stumbled to a .225/.283/.298 showing in 57 games the next year, though, leading Seattle to run him through waivers twice.
Public defensive metrics have pegged Torrens as a below-average pitch framer and blocker. His career 21.7% caught stealing rate is a few percentage points below par, though he cut down an excellent 32.1% of basestealers last season.
The Nationals have three catchers on the 40-man roster. Israel Pineda has spent the entire year on the minor league injured list with a broken finger, leaving Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams as their only healthy backstops. Ruiz, whom the Nats signed to a $50MM extension over the winter, is entrenched as the starter. The 26-year-old Adams has played just seven times as the backup, hitting .192/.250/.346 in 29 plate appearances. Adams still has a minor league option year remaining, so Washington could eventually turn to another #2 backstop if they’d like to get him more consistent reps in Triple-A.
Luis Torrens Elects Free Agency
The Orioles announced this afternoon that catcher Luis Torrens had cleared waivers and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.
Torrens, 27, was a prospect in the Yankees organization when the Reds selected him in the 2016-17 offseason’s Rule 5 draft before trading him to the Padres. Torrens made his big league debut with San Diego during the 2017 season and stayed on the roster all year, batting .163/.243/.203 in 139 plate appearances as the club’s back up catcher. Torrens would spend the entire 2018 season and most of 2019 in the minors before returning to a regular role with the Padres in 2020. Torrens slashed .273/.333/.364 in 7 games during the shortened 2020 season with San Diego before he was traded to Seattle as part of the deal that brought Austin Nola to the Padres.
Torrens would stay with the Mariners through the end of the 2022 season, ultimately batting .239/.297/.388, good for a wRC+ of 93, over 609 plate appearances for the club before Seattle non-tendered him this past November. Torrens went on to sign a minor league deal with the Cubs, making the club’s Opening Day roster as a third catcher. Torrens stepped to the plate just 22 times in Chicago, however, prior to being designated for assignment and traded to the Orioles. He ultimately did not make it into a game for Baltimore before the club decided to DFA him as well.
Overall, Torrens has been a 92 wRC+ hitter since the end of the 2017 season, a perfectly solid mark for a catcher. As Torrens re-enters free agency, he figures to be an attractive option for multiple teams as catching depth, leaving him likely to latch on with another club in short order. In particular, the Angels are known to have explored catching additions recently as the club relies on Matt Thaiss and Chris Okey behind the plate with each of Max Stassi, Logan O’Hoppe, and Chad Wallach currently on the injured list.
Orioles Designate Luis Torrens For Assignment, Recall Drew Rom
The Orioles announced a series of roster moves today, recalling left-hander Drew Rom, infielder/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn and infielder Terrin Vavra from Triple-A Norfolk. In corresponding moves, infielder Ramón Urías was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, left-hander Keegan Akin was optioned to Norfolk and catcher Luis Torrens was designated for assignment.
Torrens, 27, was acquired from the Cubs less than a week ago and was a bit of a curious fit on Baltimore’s roster. They already had Adley Rutschman and James McCann forming their catching duo and Torrens was out of options, meaning he couldn’t be sent down to the minors. Now Torrens has been cut from the roster without even getting into a game as an Oriole, just a few days after Baltimore sent cash to Chicago in order to acquire him.
The Orioles are no strangers to acquiring veteran depth and almost immediately designating that player for assignment, in hopes of successfully passing him through waivers and retaining him in Triple-A. They’ve done this frequently over the past year, with the aforementioned O’Hearn a prime example. First baseman Lewin Diaz and catcher Anthony Bemboom have also fallen under this category, and the O’s tried to do the same with outfielder Jake Cave but lost him when the Phillies claimed him off waivers.
The 26-year-old Torrens is a career .227/.289/.352 hitter in 799 Major League plate appearances between the Padres, Mariners and Cubs. He’s connected on 19 home runs, fanned at a 26% clip and drawn a walk in 7.8% of those trips to the plate. He regularly made contact during his three-year run with Seattle, evidenced by a 91 mph average exit velocity and hefty 45.7% hard-hit rate, but that quality contact didn’t necessarily translate into production.
Defensively, Torrens has drawn below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and most pitch-framing metrics. He has a below-average 21.7% caught-stealing rate in his career but did throw out nine of 28 attempted thieves (32.1%) as recently as last season. The O’s will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through waivers, which seems like the more probable path they’ll tread, based on their history with this sort of move.
As for Rom, this is his first ascension to the Major League level. He’ll make his debut whenever he takes the mound for the first time. The 23-year-old southpaw, a fourth-round pick in 2018, has pitched exclusively out of the rotation so far in Norfolk, working 31 1/3 innings with a 2.87 ERA to go along with impressive strikeout (24.6%), walk (7.7%) and ground-ball (55.4%) rates on the year.
While Rom isn’t considered to be one of the Orioles’ top overall prospect, he is considered one of the best pitching prospects in a system that skews more toward position players than arms. MLB.com ranks Rom 19th among Baltimore prospects but sixth-best among the team’s minor league pitchers; it’s a similar story at Baseball America, where he’s 25th overall but ninth among their minor league hurlers. He doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting in the low 90s with his heater, but has typically posted better-than-average strikeout and ground-ball rates. Rom has more than held his own against left-handed opponents in his minor league career but has been far more hittable when facing righties.
Cubs Trade Luis Torrens To Orioles
The Orioles have acquired catcher Luis Torrens from the Cubs in exchange for cash, per a team announcement. Right-hander Joey Krehbiel was designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Torrens, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the offseason. He appeared in 13 games for them this season but tallied only 22 plate appearances, going 5-for-20 with a double, a walk and eight strikeouts in that time (.250/.318/.300).
Prior to that brief run in Chicago, Torrens spent two years with the Mariners after coming over alongside Ty France and Andres Munoz in the trade sending Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla to the Padres. In 799 Major League plate appearances, he’s a .227/.289/.352 hitter with 19 long balls, a 26% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. While he wasn’t especially productive in his time with Seattle, he did make a fair bit of hard contact, averaging 91 mph off the bat and putting 45.7% of his batted balls in play at an exit velocity of at least 95 mph.
Defensively, Torrens has drawn below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and most pitch-framing metrics. He has a career 21.7% caught-stealing rate that’s below the league average, and he came up empty in his only attempt to throw a runner out with the Cubs. He did throw out nine of 28 attempted thieves (32.1%) as recently as last season.
Torrens is out of minor league options, so the Orioles will carry him on the big league roster. That’ll give them three catching options, as he’ll join 2022 Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman and veteran James McCann on Baltimore’s roster.
Krehbiel, 30, hasn’t pitched in the Majors this season but logged 57 2/3 innings out of Baltimore’s bullpen in 2022, notching a solid 3.90 ERA with a below-average 18.4% strikeout rate but a sharp 7.4% walk rate. Overall, her has a 3.78 ERA in 69 Major League frames between the D-backs, Rays and O’s.
The 2023 season has been rough for Krehbiel, however. While he’s sporting a 2.00 ERA in nine Triple-A frames, he’s also walked more batters (seven) than he’s struck out (six) and has plunked another hitter. That’s nearly 22% of Krehbiel’s opponents that have either drawn a free pass or reached via hit-by-pitch. Even beyond those command woes, Krehbiel’s broader numbers in Triple-A (5.34 ERA in 175 1/3 innings) are actually worse than his big league output.
The Orioles will have a week to trade Krehbiel or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s been outrighted once before, so even if he goes unclaimed, he’d have the right to elect free agency if he chooses.
Cubs Designate Luis Torrens For Assignment
The Cubs have reinstated outfielder Cody Bellinger from the paternity list, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Catcher Luis Torrens was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Torrens, 26, has appeared in 13 games for the Cubs this season but tallied only 22 plate appearances. He’s 5-for-20 with a double, a walk and eight strikeouts in that time (.250/.318/.300).
Signed to a minor league deal back in January, Torrens has spent the past two-plus seasons with the Mariners after being sent from San Diego to Seattle alongside Ty France and Andres Munoz in the Austin Nola trade. He’s totaled 266 big league games and 799 plate appearances, batting .227/.289/.352 with 19 home runs, a 7.8% walk rate and a 26% strikeout rate. Torrens hasn’t made much hard contact in his limited plate appearances this year but showed a knack for it from 2020-22 when he averaged 91 mph off the bat and posted a hearty 45.7% hard-hit rate.
Defensively, Torrens has drawn below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and most pitch-framing metrics. He has a career 21.7% caught-stealing rate that’s below the league average, and he came up empty in his only attempt to throw a runner out with the Cubs. He did throw out nine of 28 attempted thieves (32.1%) as recently as last season.
The Cubs will have a week to either trade Torrens, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. He was outrighted by the Mariners last August, and that prior outright assignment gives him the ability to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency if the Cubs place him on waivers and he goes unclaimed.
Cubs Select Luis Torrens
The Cubs announced to reporters, including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, that they have selected the contract of catcher Luis Torrens. They had a couple of vacancies on their 40-man roster and won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Torrens, 27 in May, has been with the Mariners over the past few years. He had a solid showing in 2021, hitting 15 home runs in 108 games. His .243/.299/.431 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 101, indicating he was a bit better than the league average hitter overall, though catchers generally produce a bit less than that. Unfortunately, he couldn’t maintain that in 2022. His strikeout rate ticked up from 26.2% to 30.1% as he hit .225/.283/.298 for a wRC+ of 72.
On the defensive side of things, Torrens hasn’t been graded very well. He has -22 Defensive Runs Saved behind the plate in his career while also getting poor marks from the FanGraphs framing metric. Given that bat-first reputation, his drop off at the plate last year put a dent in his value and the Mariners non-tendered him at season’s end.
The Cubs brought Torrens aboard on a minor league deal and will now have him up with the big league team after a strong spring performance. He hit a pair of home runs and slashed .273/.385/.636. The Cubs already have Tucker Barnhart and Yan Gomes on the roster but will apparently go with a three-catcher setup for now. Torrens has had very brief showings at first, second and third base in his big league career and could potentially fill in elsewhere, though the Cubs also have plenty of other options for those spots. Eric Hosmer should get regular work at first with Trey Mancini also in the mix and prospect Matt Mervis potentially jumping in at some point. Nico Hoerner will be at second while some combination of Patrick Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, Edwin Ríos and Miles Mastrobuoni will cover third.
The club doesn’t really have an explicit designated hitter, perhaps allowing them to rotate those players through that spot. The right-handed bat of Torrens could potentially platoon with lefties like Barnhart, Hosmer, Rios, Mervis or Mastrobuoni. In his strong 2021 season, Torrens hit nine of his home runs against lefties and slashed .275/.311/.542 for a wRC+ of 131.
Cubs Sign Luis Torrens To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have signed catcher Luis Torrens to a minor league deal, per Ángel Daniel Conde T of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League’s Navegantes del Magallanes. Torrens will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Torrens, 27 in May, has seen scattered playing time in the big leagues since 2017, suiting up for the Padres and Mariners. His longest stretch of playing time in the majors came with Seattle in 2021, when he got into 108 games and hit 15 home runs. His .243/.299/.431 batting line resulted in a 101 wRC+, indicating he was just above average at the plate, though the average catcher usually comes in around 90 or so. Last year, he slipped to a line of .225/.283/.298 and a wRC+ of 72.
Since he’s generally considered to be a bat-first catcher, Torrens needs to hit to be valuable to a team. Defensive Runs Saved has given him a -22 grade for his career so far while both FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus consider him a subpar framer. Since he was having a down year at the plate in 2022, he was outrighted off the roster in August. He finished the season on the roster after getting selected again in September, but he was then non-tendered in November.
For the Cubs, they have three catchers on their 40-man roster, with Tucker Barnhart and Yan Gomes slated to the share the time with the big league club. Prospect Miguel Amaya is also on the roster but he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021. He returned last year but was limited to just 40 minor league games and has yet to reach Triple-A. Torrens will give the club some non-roster depth should an injury arise before Amaya is ready to make the jump. Torrens is out of options and won’t be able to be easily sent back to the minors if he gets onto the roster.
American League Non-Tenders: 11/18/22
The deadline to tender contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm Central. Here’s a rundown of the players on American League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all arb-eligible players last month. Onto the transactions…
Latest Transactions
- The Mariners announced that they have non-tendered three players: catchers Brian O’Keefe and Luis Torrens, as well as righty Luke Weaver. Weaver was just claimed off waivers from the Royals a few weeks ago but will now become a free agent.
- The White Sox announced three non-tenders: outfielders Adam Engel and Mark Payton, as well as infielder Danny Mendick. Engel is generally considered a strong defensive outfielder but he struggled at the plate in 2022. Mendick played all over the diamond while hitting .289/.343/.443 for a wRC+ of 125.
- The Guardians announced they have non-tendered lefty Anthony Gose and catcher Luke Maile. Gose was designated for assignment earlier in the week. Maile got into 76 games hit at a below-average level with roughly average defensive marks.
- The Angels announced four non-tenders: lefties Jhonathan Diaz and Rob Zastryzny, as well as righties Touki Toussaint and Nash Walters. The latter three names were designated for assignment a few days ago.
- The Rays have non-tendered Ryan Yarbrough, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa designated him for assignment earlier in the week.
- The Blue Jays announced that they have non-tendered outfielders Raimel Tapia and Bradley Zimmer, as well as infielder Vinny Capra. The two former names were designated for assignment a few days ago.
Earlier Moves
- The Athletics announced that they did not tender contracts to three players: right-hander Deolis Guerra, left-hander Jared Koenig and infielder David MacKinnon. Guerra is the most seasoned of the trio, having made his MLB debut back in 2015 and made 136 appearances. Unfortunately, he required Tommy John surgery in April, missing the entire 2022 campaign and possibly some of 2023 as well.
- The Red Sox are non-tendering outfielder/first-baseman Franchy Cordero, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Cordero appeared in 84 games for the Red Sox this past season, but hit just .219/.300/.397 with eight home runs while grading out very poorly on defense. The Sox have also non-tendered infielder Yu Chang, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. The versatile infielder began the year with the Guardians but subsequently went to the Pirates in a trade, then went to the Rays and Red Sox on waiver claims. Across those four teams, he hit .208/.289/.315 for a wRC+ of 78.
- The Astros will part ways with reliever Josh James, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports they’re expected to non-tender him tonight. He spent the entire 2022 campaign in the minors, and underwent flexor tendon surgery in October and is without a timetable to return.
- The Rangers announced that right-hander Nick Snyder has not been tendered a contract. He only has 4 2/3 innings of MLB experience over the past couple of seasons. He spent most of 2022 in Triple-A, posting a 4.97 ERA over 38 innings, though with a 30.9% strikeout rate.
- The Royals opted to non-tender lefty Jake Brentz and right-hander Nate Webb, the team announced. That’s no surprise, as both players were designated for assignment earlier this week. They lost their 40-man roster spots as a result, but the non-tender means Kansas City won’t need to run them through waivers before sending them directly to free agency. Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweets that Kansas City is tendering contracts to the rest of their arbitration class, including Brad Keller and Amir Garrett — each of whom seemed to have a small chance of being cut loose after tough seasons.
Mariners Select Luis Torrens, Designate Jake Lamb
The Mariners announced a series of roster moves today, recalling outfielder Jarred Kelenic and selecting the contract of catcher Luis Torrens. In corresponding moves, outfielder Taylor Trammell was optioned to Triple-A while infielder/outfielder Jake Lamb was designated for assignment.
Torrens, 26, had a strong season for Seattle last year but struggled to carry that forward into 2022. He was hitting .214/.262/.252 in August, producing a wRC+ of just 53. For a catcher with a bat-first reputation, that was clearly not cutting it, leading the club to designate him for assignment. Torrens cleared waivers and was outrighted but will now return to the club just over a month later to get another crack at things. The M’s already have a couple of catchers in Curt Casali and Cal Raleigh, though Raleigh has missed a few games this week due to thumb soreness. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times also adds that Casali is expected to go on paternity leave soon, compounding the need for some extra depth behind the plate.
Lamb, 31, began the year with the Dodgers but was traded to Seattle just prior to the deadline. He hit .239/.338/.433 for a wRC+ of 120 in Los Angeles but hasn’t been able to carry that up the coast with him. He’s hit just .167/.265/.300 since joining the Mariners, producing a wRC+ of 70. Due to that tepid showing, he’ll relinquish his roster spot to Torrens.
Of course, outside the 40-man roster implications, today’s moves also carry intrigue for Seattle given that they are swapping out a pair of young outfielders. Kelenic, 23, arrived with much fanfare in May of 2021 as one of the top prospects in the sport, but struggled in his first taste of MLB action. He’s been bounced on and off the club’s major league roster ever since but always scuffling in the bigs. Through 133 major league games so far, he has a batting line of .167/.246/.329 for a wRC+ of 63. He’s been on a heater in Triple-A this year, however, showcasing why he’s always been considered such an exciting young player. In 86 games for Tacoma this season, he’s hit 18 long balls and stolen nine bases, creating a batting line of .295/.365/.557 for a wRC+ of 123. Of course, he’s often hit well but then struggled after a major league promotion, but he’ll now get another chance to break that cycle.
The Mariners have been scuffling a bit lately but are still in good position to break their 21-year postseason drought. They are holding onto the final AL Wild Card spot at the moment, five games ahead of the Orioles with just two weeks left on the schedule. If Kelenic brings his hot bat up to the majors, he could both give the club a boost down the stretch and earn himself a spot on the playoff roster.