Rays May Pursue Torrealba

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 12, 2007 4:30 PM EST Comment 11 comments

Ken Rosenthal reports the following:

Torrealba, 27, is drawing interest from the Marlins and Mets after gaining exposure during the post-season, and the Brewers and Devil Rays could pursue him as well.

He seemed to handle the Colorado staff well last year, offensively he's nothing to write home about, but we have done worse in the past.

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Re: Rays May Pursue Torrealba

I am happy with Navarro and Riggans personally

http://tampabaysportsfanatic.blogspot.com/

by tampabaysportsfanatic on Nov 12, 2007 5:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Add a minor league deal for someone like

Casanova maybe or Sal Fasano just in case of an injury to Riggans or Navarro so we don't have to rush Jaso.

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 12, 2007 5:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Add a minor league deal for someone like

yep. I agree

http://tampabaysportsfanatic.blogspot.com/

by tampabaysportsfanatic on Nov 12, 2007 6:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Rays May Pursue Torrealba

I feel the same way.

by sattp on Nov 12, 2007 10:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Rays May Pursue Torrealba

Pretty sure Torrealba is 29, but that's still pretty young for a FA catcher.

by raysrule07 on Nov 12, 2007 8:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I am not sure exactly what Torrealba brings to the table. He has little offensive value, neither hitting for power or getting on base. His caught stealing figures have varied dramatically, hitting a low last year of 19.7% CS. I hear he is supposed to be a good defensive catcher otherwise, but am not sure he will be satisfied as a backup and expect he will command a fairly high salary given that he started on a world series team. I would rather go with Riggans and sign a good defensive catcher to a minor league contract just in case someone gets injured.

by bobr on Nov 12, 2007 10:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Seems like a plan to me

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 12, 2007 10:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree generally with what you're saying

But I think a lot of it depends on what Torrealba's price tag is. I think that he is offensively adequate for a backup catcher; we're not looking for league average, maybe just replacement level really at that position. I'm not too sure about his defense either, but being a backup catcher, I'm not sure how much that will really detract from our performance if he starts once or twice a week. I think that the Rays need to put their name out there for catchers on the open market that would consider coming here as a backup. They need to probe what the expected salary for these players is. I would like to see Riggans get a full season as a backup next year, but I also want to have a contingency veteran in place should our catchers produce at the same clip next year as they did in this one.