You Make the Call: Andres Torres

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Fun Fax about Andres Torres:

* Although he grew up in Puerto Rico was born in Paterson, N.J.
* Track star at Miami Dade Community College, running the 100 meters in 10.37 seconds, the second fastest recorded 100 meter time for all major league baseball players, behind Deion Sanders' 10.26.
* Nicknamed 'Yungo' meaning 'Junior' His father was also Andres.
* Suffers ADHD and was subject of a 2011 documentary on the topic, "Yungo Gigante"
* You can see the trailer in the below video beginning at 9:47 followed by a teary Q&A and lavender shirt.
* Subject of today's You Make The Call.

xRnZKxSFTic

[Benjamin Grimm]

I hate to say it, but I'm getting a tremendous flop vibe on him.

70 games. .218. 3 homers. Gone before August 1.

[metirish]

More stints on the DL than home runs.


No idea what happened in 2010 but I just don't see that happening again.

2 HR - .220 - bench player come July

[Edgy MD]

With him coming over in a challenge trade, an outright flop could reflect really poorly on the Alderson regime.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I suppose. It partly depends on what Pagan does for San Francisco.

[Ceetar]

.265/.340/.410 19 SB, 3 HR. Becomes a very good 4th OFer in July for Kirk Nieuwenhuis in center.

[Vic Sage]

the trade was more about Ramirez than Torres.

Torres will hit .225, with some HRs and SBs, before getting DLed for the season.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The Mets obviously see this guy as a short-term bridge to the next guy in CF, and hope that if nothing else he provides acceptable D out there. One or all of Neiuwy, dekky and Ceciliani will challenge this guy before the year's out.

250/340/400 if we're lucky? No idea really. I can't even say I've ever really seen him play that much.

[smg58]

I think the trade will be more about Ramirez than Torres, but whether that was Sandy's intent is an open question.

I'll say that mild improvement gets him back to his career averages: .244/.318/.403, but his defense is good enough that his job does not get challenged until maybe September.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets seem confident that he'll provide more reliable defense than Pagan. The offense is anybody's guess.

I get the feeling we'll someday learn where it all went wrong with Pagan. I guess there was an injury or something, but you won't often see a guy fall from the top of his field defensively to the bottom like that. Particularly in center, where a defender is more in control of his game than practically anywhere.

.258 / .329 / .398 // .727

Eight homers, 47 RBI.

[TransMonk]

Vic Sage wrote: the trade was more about Ramirez than Torres.

This.

I love Torres' attitude and wish he was healthy. But I don't expect much of anything from him.

[Edgy MD]

I got the idea that the trade was mostly about getting past Pagan, who they had started to get a foul taste from.

[Ceetar]

Very well could've been a Pagan for Ramirez thing (although that's overpaying on our part) with Torres as the "well, you don't have room for him and now we need a CF" guy instead of a prospect or something.

I get the sense that the organization feels pretty good about Nieuwenhuis showing up sooner rather than later.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy DC wrote: I got the idea that the trade was mostly about getting past Pagan, who they had started to get a foul taste from.

They weren't in a position to re-up Pagan, and give him a raise, only to take his job away if Neiuwy (as they suspect he can) earns it. Besides he played poorly last year and had a stick up his ass.

Torres possesses less upside, but is more competent defensively, and his lack of equity here makes him easier to move aside if and when the others come up.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, all that. Too costly if he was a just-for-the-time-being solution.

Funny to solve that by getting a guy who's five years older but professionally younger.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I suppose. It partly depends on what Pagan does for San Francisco.

.176/.192/.294 with 4 XBH in 52 PAs.

As per Hank Schulman, Giants beat writer, two days ago:

No other way to say it. Angel Pagan is completely lost at the plate.

Forget Torres-- Den Dekker is outproducing him at the plate.

[Lefty Specialist]

I don't expect much, and I suspect I won't be disappointed. On and off injuries will limit his effectiveness. .235/4/20 before being elbowed aside this summer.

[ashie62]

Torres..out of the equation by 7/4....Floperoo

[MFS62]

Under 100 games (and many of those for defensive purposes).
Under 300 AB.
Under .615 OPS.
Under scrutiny as to when he can be replaced, not if.

Later

[metirish]

burp....

[Vic Sage]

well, THAT was fast.
Captain Kirk flying in to take up Torres' spot

[nymr83]

Vic Sage wrote: well, THAT was fast. Captain Kirk flying in to take up Torres' spot

BEAMING in!

[Ceetar]

We'll see him again May 1st and his primary role will be to pinch runner for Duda after he doubles in the go-ahead run in the 8th and be the defensive replacement in RF.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

bumpety-boo

[Benjamin Grimm]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I hate to say it, but I'm getting a tremendous flop vibe on him. 70 games. .218. 3 homers. Gone before August 1.

Well, I got the number of homers right. He hit .230 in 132 games. And he wasn't gone until after December 1.