Mr. Rocktober Was Almost a Met
By Mike Silva ~ October 13th, 2009. Filed under: 2009 Playoffs, Mike Silva.
Yorvit Torrealba would have been the story today if Huston Street didn’t do his best Brad Lidge impression. According to Jayson Stark that double made Torrealba 20 for his last 33 with runners in scoring position the last two months. In 2007 he hit over .500 against the Phillies and, despite struggling in the NLCS, hit a three run homer off Livan Hernandez to put the Rockies in the driver’s seat on route to the World Series.
Torrealba is a catcher that is solid defensively, known to handle a pitching staff well and, although not a tremendous hitter, is solid and known to elevate his performance in big spots. What’s not to like? Well, if you remember, the Mets signed Torrealba to a 3 year/$14.4 million dollar deal after the 2007 season. The Mets claim they backed out over concerns with the catcher’s right shoulder. Torrealba, who still seems to hold some bitterness, says it was simply bad business, but lost the grievance he filed. Whatever the case don’t you think he would be someone to look at this offseason if you were the Mets? There is a mutual option on Torrealba’s contract so it’s quite possibly he will be a free agent.
2009 has been a difficult year for Torrealba. He struggled offensively early in the season and then had to deal with his son being kidnapped back home in Venezuela. All worked out for the better, but certainly not the best conditions to perform under in a potential walk year.
Torrealba could be a great complement to a young Josh Thole and an upgrade over Omir Santos. His home/road splits are identical (.730 OPS in both), has an OPS just under a 1.000 in high leverage situations, and produced 17 RBI’s during the month of September as Colorado solidified their Wild Card position and nearly took over the NL West from LA.
Ironically the Mets would make one of their most controversial trades two weeks after backing out of the Torrealba deal sending Lastings Milledge to Washington for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. It was Schneider that was sold as great defensively and with the pitching staff. During his two years in New York he hit as expected (.700 OPS), but it was Omir Santos and Ramon Castro that had more success statistically with the staff than Schneider. Ironically Castro was dumped in May for allegedly having the opposite effect.
Would Torrealba reconsider the Mets this winter? I would doubt it considering he told Brian Costello of the NY Post that Omar Minaya left a bad taste in his mouth. It was Omar that sold Torrealba’s wife and kids on New York City, got their hopes raise, and then backed out on the deal. Too bad, they could have used him in 2008 and certainly would have been an upgrade over Schneider in 2009. I wonder if the doctor that diagnosed Torrealba’s bad shoulder did it on the road. I guess we will never know, but it would have been nice to see Yorvit Torrealba get a big hit or two for the Mets in New York.
