Another Day, Another Catcher: Omar Talks To Torrealba’s Agent

An article by Ed Leyro    7 Comments

According to David Lennon of Newsday, Rockies’ catcher Yorvit Torrealba may be on the Mets radar.  Again.

Earlier today, Omar Minaya spoke to Melvin Roman, the agent for free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba.  If Bengie Molina continues to ask for a three-year deal, the Mets might consider Torrealba.

However, if you recall, two years ago the Mets had signed Torrealba to a three-year, $14.4 million deal before they decided to trade for Brian Schneider instead.  Roman filed a grievance against the Mets after they reneged on the deal with his client.

Should the 31-year-old Torrealba and his agent decide to leave the past in the past, the Mets would be competing for his services with the Giants and his current team, the Rockies.  The Blue Jays and Royals have also expressed interest.

According to Troy Renck of the Denver Post, Torrealba appears to want a deal similar to the one signed by Ivan Rodriguez Monday night with the Washington Nationals.  Pudge put his John Hancock on a two-year, $6 million contract to play for the last place Nats.

Although Torrealba would like to remain with the Rockies, he is splitting time behind the plate with the younger Chris Iannetta.  Thomas Harding of MLB.com is reporting that the catching priority for the Rockies appears to be signing Iannetta to a multi-year deal, although they will still consider bringing back Torrealba.

The Mets can guarantee Torrealba more playing time and more money than a team like the Rockies can.  However, did the Mets burn their bridges with the catcher in 2007 when they walked away from their deal?

If the Mets do sign him, they’ll be getting a catcher who finished the 2009 season with a .291 batting average, to go with 2 HR and 31 RBI in only 64 games.  Torrealba has played in over 100 games only once in his career (2007).  He hit .255 that season, with 8 HR and 47 RBI.  If the Mets get him, it will surely not be for his offense.  However, to his credit, he is a fine handler of pitchers.  His ability to throw runners out took a hit in 2009 as he only caught eight baserunners stealing in 57 attempts (14% success rate), but he did not make a single error last season.

If the Mets are going to throw Ivan Rodriguez money at Torrealba, then they should have thrown it at Ivan Rodriguez.  I’m not a fan of Torrealba.  If they can’t sign Bengie Molina, then they should consider other options before considering Yorvit Torrealba.  At the very least, they should get a catcher who’s played more than 100 games in a season if they plan on using him to catch that many games.  Torrealba is not that man.  Let’s hope Omar takes a pass on Torrealba even if Molina can’t be signed.