It’s a thin line between being released and getting a million dollar contract. Let’s consider the lines for two relief pitchers for the 2015 Mets:
Pitcher A – Had a 2.52 ERA and held batters to a .207/.342/.326 line after 111 batters faced.
Pitcher B – Had a 3.35 ERA and held batters to a .256/.298/.369 line after 182 batters faced.
In a shorter time frame, Pitcher A had better results in fewer batters faced. You might prefer Pitcher B due to the greater sample but there’s not a whole lot to choose from here, as Pitcher A allowed a .668 OPS while Pitcher B allowed a .667 OPS.
Then both pitchers hit a tough patch.
Pitcher A – 4.82 ERA and batters had an .857 OPS in 43 PA
Pitcher B – 9.75 ERA and batters had a .976 OPS in 61 PA
Pitcher B was much worse in a longer stretch of batters. Pitcher B is Carlos Torres, who just avoided arbitration with the club and will be paid $1.05 million in 2016. Pitcher A is Alex Torres, who signed a minor league deal with the Braves, with the hopes of winning a job with the team in Spring Training.
Lifetime, C. Torres has a 4.26 ERA, a 4.11 FIP and a 3.91 xFIP
Lifetime, A. Torres has a 2.68 ERA, a 3.65 FIP and a 4.03 xFIP
It’s a thin line.
And then there’s this guy:.409/.490/.591 in 51 batter’s faced
And he managed to stick on the roster the entire year. Good Old Oh no.
Or the guy who was sent to the minors last year deemed worthy of 5m+ after a tiny stint of 1.17 ERA, .200/.267/.273 in 60 PA worth of work.
Id say it’s more of an erratic line.
I will always believe that Alex Torres was horribly misused last season, and it ultimately resulted in bringing out the worst in him.
It was just a terrible match.
You have to let him start innings, forget he’s a lefty, and accept the walks as a trade-off for the fact he’s hard to hit.
Really back to Alex Torres? Ugh. He had a job that the Mets wanted him to fill and apparently he agreed to try it. It was a disaster. He was horrific. Im thrilled never to have to see him in a Mets uniform again, and hope he make the Braves so we can pound him senseless.
Meanwhile Carlos was abused physically, nearly doubling the amount of IP and in some brutal back-to-back-to-back stretches. Im no big fan of Carlos Torres. However the pain of watching Alex Torres surrender hit after hit was too much to bear. Total bomb.
Really, yes. Sorry if you made up your mind about him on a ridiculous sample, which as you can see above, really wasn’t that bad. Don’t blame the rest of us who don’t.
And hit after hit? A. Torres was one of the hardest guys on the staff to hit last year. His H/9 was better than Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard and was tied with Familia.
Anecdotally speaking, he got a minor league contract with the Braves. That pretty much says all you need to know. Brian, he was absolutely horrific.
No, it tells me that the valuation for relievers is completely out of whack.
Carlos Torres had an up and down year but he’s got a longer track record and more versatility. I’m hoping he bounces back. Hard not to like him.
Collins is not the type of manager that can get the best out of any player, much less relievers. Collins’ strength is his ability to keep the five guys who hate him away from the five guys that haven’t made up their mind yet. Not only was Alex Torres misused, but so was Scott Rice before him and Josh Edgin. Can you imagine what would have happened to Pedro Feliciano if Collins managed him?