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According to Adam Rubin in the Daily News, citing ‘an executive from a rival suitor,’ while the Mets are willing to ‘at least guarantee’ three years at $5 million per season for free-agent Yorvit Torrealba, the offer ‘could cover 2011 and possibly have some provision for 2012.’
…oh, my…i mean, i thought three years was excessive…now we’re being told there is a chance it could be a five-year deal, which i assume must be a series of incentives and options…i like torrealba, i do, but to put this in perspective, if he actually does get a five-year deal, that’s two years less than had been given to Mike Piazza, and one year more than Jorge Posada…i mean, it just makes no sense…frankly, at this point, i’m going to reserve judgment of this until it actually becomes official…because, as of now, i’m only reacting emotionally to a media report, not minaya’s actual actions and that’s not fair…but, wow, this is looking very, very odd…
Meanwhile, in Newsday, citing ‘a National League official,’ David Lennon and Ken Davidoff write that Torrealba has been offered a three-year contract from both the Mets and Marlins.
Last night in the Rocky Mountain News, Tracy Ringolsby wrote…
“The interested teams are all pressuring for a decision on their offers by the end of the week.”
According to Ringolsby, Torrealba’s agent said his client will likely make a final decision on Thursday.
…as i wrote last night, at this point, i think the tea leaves are pretty easy to read…he can essentially take $1 million or so more per year to play in the biggest city in the world, with a successful team, but split time with Ramon Castro…or, he can take a bit less money, and either play for the last-place Marlins, or remain in Colorado, and be the every-day catcher…or, if the Mets really want him that badly, they can tack on the rumored and desired third year, if not more, which i really hope they do not do…
…unless, the Mets look at it like, ‘we lock in yorvit long-term, castro is here for just two, if after castro leaves we can sign a new starting catcher, and yorvit can simply slide back to being a back up.’…
By the way, Rubin continues on to explain further details about the negotiations between Castro, the Mets and Torrealba, and how Jorge Posada factored in.
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what the heck? what do the really see in him for a potential of FIVE YEARS? theres nothing wrong with a 2 maybe 3 yr deal but why five yrs? hes a league average catcher if that…
Seriously … 5 years? This is a joke. I mean, I can live with the guy for 2 … maybe he becomes a better player … but now we’re talking 5 years? For what? What has he done to earn a 5 year contract? I don’t get it.
All the talk is about how the Mets didn’t want to go all out for A-Rod because the pitching really needs to be addressed. Now they are going to turn around and talk about possibly giving a 5 year contract to Yorvit Torrealba, who can’t pitch, and who has not shown to be anything special to this point.
Can someone tell me what I’m missing here?
Torrealba only costs 3-5million/year and does not prevent future acquisitions because of $ issues…..and we happen to need a catcher…..
A-Rod would cost 25-30 million/year and we already happen to have a 3rd baseman, a SS, a 1st Baseman – and your current 3rd baseman has said he can’t play 2nd base…….
I’m not comparing him to A-Rod … come on. Lets be real. I’m asking why Torrealba deserves a 5 year contract.
Why has Torrealba done to command a 5 year contract?
*What has Torreabla done to command a 5 year contract.
I know the grammar police will jump all over that one :)
Can someone remind Omar that Paul Loduca is a free agent and will take the same money while much more productive?
This all pure speculation on my part, but the Marlins want Torrealba too, right? What if the Mets and LoDuca have a secret deal that makes it look like they’re not going to sign him, while all parties know that they actually WILL resign him. At the same time, they sign Torrealba in an attempt to trade to the Fish for Dontrelle (involving other players too, of course). They trade for Dontrelle, and immediately resign LoDuca. Obviously it would be a very risky move (in that the Marlins may not go for the trade and the Mets would either have an extra catcher or they’d have to screw over Paulie), and more obviously it’s not very realistic. But I love speculating on off-season moves.
Huh??
3 years would be fiscal insanity.
5 years, even with options for 2 of them, should be cause for the immediate dismissal of Minaya.
And I like Minaya.
I think everyone is reading way too much into this…
What if year 4 and 5 only kick in if he gets to 450 AB in the previous season? What would be wrong with that — he’d only gets those extra years if he develops into an elite catcher who’s still starting in year three.
I don’t see Omar being crazy enough to offer a guaranteed 5 year deal.
No chance it is a 5 yr deal. I mean absolutely zero chance. give Minaya some credit for gods sake.
he would not give 5 years to Wright or Reyes locking them out of arbitration. Absolutely zero chance Torrealba gets a 5 yr deal
Huh? Wright got a 6-year deal from the Mets.
I agree- there’s just no chance that this is a guaranteed five years- everyone freaking out accusing Omar of doing something stupid that he hasn’t actually done yet need to calm down.
If he wants more than two or possibly three (which is stretching it) guaranteed years, he’s going somewhere else. If a contract involves anything past that, it would be in the form of team options with low buyouts or years that vest with stats that would make it clear that we would want him back anyway (starting 130+ games, huge offensive numbers, etc.).
It really depends on whether or not the 2 additional years are team options with SMALL buyouts. If so, not a major problem. But if there are large buyouts involved, or they are guaranteed years or incentive or player options then that’s a problem.
In light of their making Posada their #1 target this winter and not protecting Flores last year I’m not too confident in their ability to assess and fill the Mets catching needs, short term or long term.
I agree … you keep mentioning the Flores thing and it really is a shame. No one’s saying he is the greatest catcher out there but they lost a guy who they could have used. Now they have to go out and possibly pay out a 3-5 year contract to a guy who isn’t anything special.
Does anyone know exactly how the 40-man roster works?
Specifically, can they take guys “like” Smith off of it simply to protect a good prospect and then after the Rule V is over, take the prospect off the 40-man and put Smith back on?
I’m just wondering how the heck they didn’t protect a catcher who had 21 HRs and 60+ RBIs in high A ball? Even if they didn’t think anyone would bite, don’t you think they should make pretty damn sure given the paucity of catching prospects in the organization? I highly doubt this is the first time a team plucked a prospect from high A and kept him on their major league roster all year. If roster maneuvers such as the one I suggested above are allowable, then there really is no excuse for their failure to protect Flores. None.
mets management = CLOWNS
5 years? If that is true, just go ahead and fire Omar now.
Unless he wants to lock up a back up catcher well into his mid-30s for starter money.
This is not a good thing. 3 years I can understand. 5 years would have been A Rod territory!
Unless year 4 and 5 are team options with cheap buy outs?
2 years would have been OK with me. 3 years at $15 million is too much. 5 years? Agree with a bunch of you that said this already, 5 years should mean the termination of Omar Minaya.
Supply and demand is about the only logical reason behind this. With Posada off the table, there’s not much left and the free agent catchers with any value are going to get overpaid for their services.
What scares me is that the guy played for Colorado and still only hit .255.
In Colorado his numbers were .296 .353 .424 .777.
Away he was an ugly .212 .292 .326 .618.
In 2007, he was 2 for 7 at Shea with a double. Considering Shea is typically considered a pitcher’s park, we shouldn’t expect much from Torrealba offensively. So he better be exceptional at calling a game!
Bottom Line….Yorvit is barely an decent catcher. His numbers show it and coming from a ballpark that’s hitter friendly…i cant stand this move…if it happens….
you’re confused. his numbers show he is barely a decent hitter. catching is a really tough thing to judge from numbers.
From what I can tell from the stats he misses being a “barely decent hitter” by a mile and a half. He pretty much stinks and has always stunk. No BA, No power, No OBP. He’s essentially Mike Difelice. If the Mets are serious about this, it makes me seriously question their judgement.
I used to live in SF and went to and watched a lot of games when he was the back up for Benito Santiago/ AJ Perzinski with the giants a few years ago and there just a lot of thing about the way he plays the game that are just very likable, almost in a Luis Castillo sort of way.
During the Giants NL pennant season in 2002 and in 2003, in limited playing time he was just super clutch, and there where times that it was perplexing why he wasn’t starting over Benito Santiago (and later AJ Perzinski). At the time, he is one of those players that (like endy is now) announcers would repeat ad nausem that he would be a starter on most teams.
I think he is more of a complete player then castro, and once you see him play for a while you will be happy that he is on the Mets.
PS. It’s also fun to hear his name being announced on the PA.
By “complete” do you mean that he has better plate discipline or hits for more power or strikes out less or has more gap power or takes more walks or has longer ABs or hits for a higher average or is dominant at throwing out runners?
Because he doesn’t do any of that. There is no facet of his game that is very good. Maybe grit. Maybe he has a lot of grit. Let’s not sign a player for 3 years on grit.
Maybe he means things like motivation, desire, intensity, and clutchness which I think definitely exists. Those are intangibles that don’t show up on a stat sheet. If it’s true that Torrealba has those qualities, then that’s a plus. I value those things in a player.
The real question is: is his arm healthy? In 2006, he threw out 40+ percent of baserunners and finished just a hair behind Yadier Molina, who led the league in CS%. He had similar numbers in 2005. But in 2007, he suddenly threw out a career low 19 percent.
If we’re getting one of the two premier defensive catchers in the NL, then, yeah – that guy could be worth three guaranteed years. If we’re getting a guy who hits like Ausmus but throws like Piazza, no way.
Don’t you think they will investigate his medical history and give him a medical before any contract is signed?
Unless Omar ignores any evidence that his arm/shoulder may have health issues that are seriously impacting his game, then I’m not worried.
So I’m going to assume that if they sign him, then there isn’t a chronic health issue. If there is and they are aware of it and still sign him and he can’t throw, then Omar should be fired.
He is one of the worst hitters in baseball. Period. Any shred of statistical analysis would show this. Away from Coors, he is the second worst starting catcher in the league. Only Miguel Olivo had a worse offensive year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?sort=OPS&split=34&league=nl&season=2007&seasonType=2&type=reg&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&minpa=200&hand=a&pos=c
Again, this kind of production can be replaced for free through a shrewd acquisition or possibly a minor leaguer. This kind of player should be signed for 1yr/$850k. He has done nothing in his career that would indicate he will every be able to hit in any way. Low Batting Average, low On Base, low Slugging, doesnt walk, doesnt run fast, doesn’t make contact.
Think Rey Ordonez, except without the Sportscenter defense.
We are in a bidding war for YORVIT TORREALBA.
Just sit back for a moment and think about how pathetic that is.
Crazy
woof! 5 is a LOT of years. i hope the ultimate source for that are torrealba’s agents. 2 is good, 3 is pushing it. 5 IS dumb. im really interested to see how this plays out.
Maybe Isaiah Thomas is moonlighting with Omar. This sounds like a jerome james signing.
Fire Minaya
I’m perplexed as to why the Mets want to waste their time with a .250 hitter when they can easily re-sign Paul Loduca. At least he can hit and is an emotional leader on the team. This will be a lifeless team without him. Paul wants to be back and will have the hunger and drive to bounce back from this season’s collapse.
As far as I’m concerned, just offering Torreabla 5 million per year is terms for termination of Minaya. It’s really pathetic what this team is doing. I don’t get it.
Well, it’s a done deal. Three years of Yorvit Torrealba, the newest New York Met. See ya Paulie, it was nice while it lasted.
Boo to you Omar – Once again, misguided GM’ing.
Such a shame, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Bob Gibson..even our own Tom Seaver would never make Omar’s team….you figure it out.