According to 1050 ESPN Radio here in NYC, the Mets have agreed to a 3 yr deal with Yorvit Torrealba . It looks like Torrealba will be the first string catcher with Ramon Castro backing him up and seeing more playing time than he has in recent years.
I have no problem with this signing in fact it’s a plus for the Mets as it seems that Omar was worried about Paul LoDuca breaking down and his bad attitude down the stretch last season.
Torrealba gets high marks for his ability to handle a pitching staff and it seems he is more of a positive influence than LoDuca was.
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This post was written by kranepool on November 15, 2007
this is great another white player off the team for another spanish player. Now I see why they are called Los Mets. This guy is horrible, rather have Paul back…. Omar is not taking this team to the next direction and level. He has done a poor and a very poor job drafting young talent. The farm is weak!!!!
I agree with you 100%, Rob. I find it hard to believe that Omar was worried about Paul breaking down, yet he was willing to throw a boat load of cash at Posada who is one year older than Lo Duca. The bottom line is that this is a terrible move by Omar. He let a solid catcher go, and replaced him with someone who is basically a back-up. Since Lo Duca is by far a better hitter, equal or better on the field, and brings a lot of fire and energy to the clubhouse, one cannot help but question if there is some validity to the argument that Minaya is targeting only Latin players.
I have no problem with this move of signing YT. Paul LoDuca is beginning to show signs that his age and years of catching are beginning to take their toll on his recuperative powers. The Mets get younger at the catching position with a player who’s on a par defensively with Paulie and calls a good game. I’ll give you he isn’t as good offensively. Perhaps with both YT and Ramon Castro sharing the catching duties, they’ll be able to come up with 20 to 25 HRs and 70 to 80 RBIs between them, which is more than we would probably get from LoDuca. Furthermore, any talk about Omar stocking the ball club with just Latinos is ridiculous. I wouldn’t care if Omar stocked the club with green and purple players. As long as they can play well and help get the Mets to the next level. That’s all that should matter!!!
I’m not going to get all over you guys for talking about the Latin players thing. I can sort of understand the impulse - you want to identify with the guys on the team you root for.
I do find it a little harder to identify with a guy from Venezuela or the Dominican Republic than a guy from Virginia or California, but once I find I get to know the player/man through the radio/t.v./newspapers that kind of thing evaporates. Over the years there have been Mets who I haven’t liked, but I’m not sure I ever disliked a player more than Dave Kingman. And, I could identify with him.
Is being “Latin” really that distinctive?
I don’t live in NY anymore, but when I did I had friends/co-workers who were Cuban, S. American and Mexican. Other than their last names, they weren’t different from me really. I admired the Spanish girls, disdained the Spanish music, but mostly found that the guys I knew were as likable or not as those from any other background. They went to the same church and schools. Their parents had some trouble with English, but they were decent people.
What I’m getting around to is asking whether it really matters if a guy whose name is Lo Duca is replaced by a guy whose name is Torrealba? To me, honestly, it doesn’t matter a damn. I would like to think that they’ll be decent citizens and refrain from bad-mouthing the city/nation that hosts them (if they’re actually from outside the US), but you can get morons and a******s from the 50 states too (see Kingman).
Honestly, I’m not trying to get all high and mighty here. I’m simply asking if it really matters. I don’t know much about Torrealba, but maybe he’s the kind of player that we as Met fans could really like.
Torrealba gets high marks for his ability to handle a pitching staff and it seems he is more of a positive influence than LoDuca was.
Steve,
Despite what I’ve written above, I was sort of concerned by what Rick Sutcliffe said about Torrealba during the World Series. (We got different broadcast than you, so no Buck & McCarver.) Sutcliffe said Torrealba had thrown the pitching staff under a bus after game 3. According to Sutcliffe the pitchers were really angry about this.
I’m only mentioning this because it strikes me that at the time Colorado had played out of its skin for 4 weeks and it seems a little odd that the catcher decided that down 3-0 in the World Series was the time to start pointing fingers at the pitchers.
Eagle,
I could care less if he is Latin, Asian, Martian, or from a farm in Iowa. My point was that it does make you wonder what Omar is doing when he lets a proven solid catcher just walk away, and replaces him with an inferior catcher. If Omar signed Posada, I wouldn’t have minded since I think Posada is a better all around catcher. But, to replace Lo Duca with Torrealba, that’s a head scratcher.
Paul,
Sorry about that. I agree with you. If not for Steve’s upbeat mood on Torrealba I’d be really down on this deal. The fact that he wasn’t a strong hitter in Colorado doesn’t fill me with optimism. I know Steve figures we don’t need much offense from the catcher, but it would be nice.
I’m just hoping that he’ll blossom next year, but that’s not all that likely.
Back in the 80’s Filip Bondy and Spike Lee got all over Frank Cashen and the Mets because they let Strawbery and K Mitchell get away and added K. McReynolds as Bondy and Lee felt the Mets were “too white” and I though that was ignorant. I feel the same way about the fans percived Omar,s Latin bias with the Mets.
I just think the Omar feels he has a better chance with a 29 yr old catcher over a 36 yr old who is breaking down and is declining offensively. Between YT and Castro you have two good receivers who are capable of giving you 20HR 80 RBI which is very good for that position. Beside all YT cost was money and as we know there is a dearth of catching in baseball so I look at this move as a plus
Kranepool,
I get what you’re saying, and yes, 20HR and 80 RBI would be nice from the catchers spot. But what are they going to do, switch catchers when they need a big hit and Torrealba is up next? Back in the 80’s, the Mets had Gary Carter behind the dish. This season, they’ll have the catcher’s equivalent to Rey Ordonez, without the fielding. The Mets lost the division last season because they weren’t as good as they were in ‘06. Now without Lo Duca, they’re not even as good as they were last season. Sometimes it’s pretty cut and dry. Once Posada came off the market, there was not one catcher available who is in any way better than Lo Duca. Unfortunately, if you’re not a good hitter, catcher or otherwise by the time you’re 29, you’re not going to be. If he couldn’t hit in Colorado with 5,000 fans, he’s not going to hit at Shea/Citi with 50,000.
Anyone have Mackey Sasser’s phone number?