Amazing… No mention of this detail until today. I guess Mets fans are not on a need to know basis under this very covert front office operation.
A Tale Of Two Cities
I investigated Rubin’s claim and here are the Mets and Giants versions of the Press Release:
The distortion and smokescreen with the Mets continues, and some prefer to believe Reyes’ version of events over the Mets who have been nothing but extraordinarily shady to say the least.
Anyway, according to several reports, new Mets center fielder Andres Torres is a nice guy with a great story. He’s sounds very excited to be joining the Mets and is looking forward to having a solid year next season after a disappointing season in 2011.
“I’m excited to go to New York. I grew up in Puerto Rico, but I’ve got a lot of family there, too. Last year, I battled a few injuries, but this year, I’m going to be ready,” Torres said, referring to an Achilles strain that cost him much of April and a right leg contusion that knocked him out for another two weeks in August. “[The 2010 season] was big, we won the World Series and I had a big year. I was a big part of that. I know what I can do. I’m going to go strong, and I’m going to do my best out there.”
Awesome… Welcome to New York, Andres… I hope you have a tremendous debut and a fantastic season in 2012… Heaven knows we need it…
A word of advice though… please get your on-base percentage above your career mark of .312 especially if your going to bat leadoff. I know it’s always difficult to improve the older a player gets, but many 34-year-olds have beaten the odds before and you can too.
Both Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins mentioned Torres as the probable leadoff hitter in 2012. “He has those attributes to lead off if he’s performing offensively at the level he did in 2010,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said.
That’s wishful thinking…
I saw a post on MetsBlog yesterday extolling all of the virtues of Andres Torres along with reactions from Giants fans who wished him well and poured out their ever-lovin guts for him. Even I was touched by the raw emotion on display and the heart-warming sentiments… Now back to baseball and reality…
Here are some more comments from Giants fans in the press release featured on the Giants website.
AlwaysONB – From an offensive standpoint, I kinda like this trade. Pagan has proven himself as a good base-stealer, so he’ll probably end up taking Torres’ leadoff spot. He’s not exactly a power threat, but he can still get on base and not get picked off once a week like Torres seemed to do last year.
BustaBusta – This is a great trade. Sure, Ramirez was great, beyond great in fact, but we have 3-4 other guys in the bullpen who can get the job done just as well as he did. The Giants can afford to get rid of Ramirez. Also, all these arguments about Torres being a fan favorite are no reason to keep him. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Torres as a person, but really a .221 avg. He is not a starter, nor will he be in New York. Pagan, on the other hand, is a potential .280 hitter, who can play all outfield positions. Additionally, he can be a true leadoff hitter, which the Giants have been lacking for the last several years (with the exception of 2010). Overall, great trade.
HondoLane – I know I am going to get some heat for this, but I love the trade. Torres was a very inconsistent hitter (and base runner) even in the WS year and the Gs were going to have to open their wallets to retain Ramirez, who admittedly is a loss. However, Pagan can play… He is a fine hitter (and good in the clutch), a great base stealer (32 steals in 39 attempts this past year), and like Torres, is aggressive and competitive. He also doesn’t strike out much, unlike Torres. The Giants really needed a proven lead-off hitter and they got a very good one… I’m happy.
GiantsCommenter – People…..Torres would not even have made the team this year. Essentially, this was a swap of a nice set-up reliever for a starting, speedy lead-off hitter (and in case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t a lot of those around). This was a nice trade for both teams because the Mets needed to upgrade a pathetic bullpen and the Giants needed to get a good lead-off hitter. Mission accomplished.
TheWillies – The Giants get a career .280 hitter who steals 30 bags and averages 80 runs a year. That’s a significant upgrade over Torres. This is the kind of lineup The Giants should have been running out there — one built for the dimensions of AT&T Park. Speedy gap hitters who steal bases. It’s a formula that worked well for the ’80s StL Cardinals.
There’s a flipside to everything…
Mets fans, meet Alex Cora err, Cory Sullivan, err, I mean Andres Torres, your replacement for Jose Reyes at leadoff. By the way, who else fell off their chair when Sandy Alderson said Andres Torres was “gritty”?
