Not Such a Head-Scratcher?

Reports from metsblog, which is good enough for me, but which apparently originated through David Lennon and Ken Davidoff in Newsday, seem to be matching the Mets with free agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba. My first reaction?

Omar, what the hell are you thinking?!?

Why?

To begin with, the rumors have the Mets signing Torrealba at 3 years and $15 million. This is 1 year and $9 million more than the Rockies (who Torrealba played for this year) offered, which for one seems unnecessary. That's New York Knicks right there. Allan Houston. Tim Thomas. Overpay for marginal talent.

Last year, Yorvit (he does have a cool first name) hit .251 with 8 homers and 47 RBI in what was considered a "career year," but away from Coors Field that came out to just .212 with 2 home runs. Torrealba is apparently solid behind the plate, but threw out just 19% of baserunners, so as far as throwing out base stealers, he wouldn't be too much of an upgrade over Paul Lo Duca and his 23% rate. The move really doesn't seem to make sense because even while paying no attention to Yorvit's ridiculous Coors Field/road ballpark splits, Lo Duca, on a down year, still outperformed him in nearly every major offensive category (.272/9/54).

So what's up here? Apparently the Mets are tepid about resigning Lo Duca, especially on his agent's terms, which are reportedly higher than what the Mets would like to offer. Despite the energy and leadership Lo Duca brings to the team, Omar Minaya seems to see Paulie Walnuts and his Italian temper in a different, "Lo Duca's a nuisance and I don't want him back"-type light.

And thus, we move in a different direction. Minaya doesn't want to get a Gerald Laird, Ronny Paulino (Ramon Castro, v. 2.0 - not as good as the original), or Ramon Hernandez because they would all have to be acquired via trade. Such a trade would have probably involved one of the Mets few valuable prospects, which we obviously need if we're going to make any meaningful adjustments to the pitching staff beyond Carlos Silva or Livan Hernandez. As far as free agent catchers go, we lost out on giving 37 year-old Jorge Posada a 5 year deal (sweet Jesus, thank you God) so it's not too difficult to see how Omar came to the conclusion that Yorvit Torrealba was our best option.

Process of elimination, baby. Apparently Torrealba won't be signed to serve in the same capacity Lo Duca would have; who knows who will start on Opening Day, but with Ramon Castro working out a deal as well the plan is supposedly for Castro and Torrealba to split time behind the plate next season.

Which is odd, again, because reports have us going 3 and $15 million for a part-time player. Castro's contract is supposed to be somewhere in the range of 2 years and $4 million.

So, on the face of it, Omar Minaya has certainly taken a turn toward trying to lose his job. Until you consider what lies beneath, if you will. From Troy Renck of the Denver Post:

“Torrealba’s main value is that he has passion, he has leadership qualities and he worked wonders with their pitchers. He knew when to give them a pat on the back or a kick in the butt…"

Renck goes on to add, regarding Yorvit's media-savviness:

“He was very accessible to me, I had a great relationship with him and I found him to be very open, very candid and very insightful. He didn’t try to butter everything up. When a guy pitched poorly he explained to me why he pitched poorly without ripping him. If he felt like he called the wrong pitches he took credit for that…

In the playoffs he loved the attention, he gravitated towards the spotlight. He held court at his locker at several times…Now, how he’ll deal with 10 or 15 reporters, during like what the Mets went through last year, that I don’t know. I mean, he can be a little moody, but, to me, it’s a by-product of his passion…

He cares deeply about winning. So, sometimes when he gets upset, it’s not to be a jerk, it’s because he is genuinely upset and he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing, because he cares so much about winning – and I think that’s what his teammates respond so much to.”

So a reporter from Torrealba's hometown paper paints him as a solid teammate who's passionate, is good with the media, can lead, works well with pitchers despite his struggles throwing runners out, and relishes the postseason stage. Sounds good to me.

What to make of this? Personally, I'd like to see the Mets just bite the bullet and bring Lo Duca back. I've always liked the guy; I wrote this in his defense over the summer when he was taking some heat. While his stock has certainly dropped since then, and I no longer think it would be a "grave mistake" or whatever it was I said at the time to let him go, why not take advantage of the fact that he really wants to keep playing with us, negotiate him down, and give him like 2 more years? His numbers weren't so hot this past year, but for Christ's sake he's a frigging catcher. He's cool, he's kind of a throwback, there to be gritty and provide leadership, mainly, which he certainly is and which he certainly does.

But it sounds like Torrealba does the same things. At the same time you don't really lose all that much production-wise, he's 7 years younger, and this move allows Ramon Castro to move into an expanded role, something many fans were clamoring for this past year.

Gonna miss this

If we're over-paying for Yorvit Torrealba I hate to think what we'd offer A-Rod if we wanted him and he wasn't on the verge of going back to the Yankees (c'est tres bizarre, that whole saga). Still, I guess the bottom line here is that we're not bringing Paul Lo Duca back, which is sad but not criminal, and this turnaround move makes the most sense for a variety of reasons. I'm warming up to it.

In an interesting twist, the Rockies are supposedly one of the teams looking to bring in Lo Duca if the Mets don't retain him (metsblog). If nothing else, how gambling, 18 year-old girl chasing Paul Lo Duca fits into the Christian Coalition's good character clubhouse next season should be an entertaining storyline to keep an eye on.

(Photos courtesy mlb.com, cnn.com)