Salomon Torres is retiring- Latest: Brewers pick up his option to retain his rights

[tristarscoop]

Just reported by Tom H on his blog

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/34282374.html

 

EDIT: Title. -PF

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Horrible news. Our bullpen goes from bad to worse. Melvin has his work cut out for him this offseason.

 

Right now the best closer on our roster is Seth McClung which might not be a bad option, but please go get Hoffman.

[zzzmanwitz]

signing Hoffman or Fuentes almost becomes absolutely necessary. God I hope they don't sign Fuentes.

[TooLiveBrew]

Our bullpen was average or above-avg. iirc last season. And honestly, Torres was not the bullpen ace some people (*cough* TH *cough*) would lead us to believe. He was good, not great.

 

 

"It's time for me to dedicate more time to my family and my religion," said Torres. "Doug was very understanding, which I appreciate. I had a wonderful experience in Milwaukee but he knows I am serious about it."

 

Sad to see you go, Salomon, but thanks for being a part of Brewers history. Good luck on your baseball academy, and enjoy the time with your family. A class act if nothing else.

[joepepsi]

I'm sorry to see him go. After seeing/reading a couple interviews with him he became the Brewer I Most Respect. What an eloquent, classy guy. Good luck to him.

"It's a small sacrifice I'm making. I know I'm doing the right thing. It might be a surprise to a lot of people and some might not understand, especially from a money standpoint. That shows you how determined I am to lead by life in another way."

[nate82]

With Torres gone that leaves the bullpen with DiFelice, Dillard, Stetter, Villanueva/McClung, and Riske as coming back for sure. Question marks include Gagne (FA), Shouse (FA), Mota (FA), and Coffey.

[And That]

To echo TLB, our bullpen wasn't bad last year. There were a few bad performances, but every bullpen has those.

 

Best wishes to Torres. He sure had a passion for the game and it was fun to watch him pitch. I'm happy to say I got to watch him in the last game that he pitched in.

 

I don't know if Torres' retirement mandates signing Hoffman, Fuentes or K-Rod, or trading for a Bobby Jenks or Huston Street, but that sure seems more likely now. Not to mention the Brewers now have $3.75 mil to play with, which could obviously go directly towards an arm or two in the bullpen.

[paul253]

This is bad news. He was pretty darn good until September (like the rest of the team). This is just one more arm we have to replace. I think they should give Villanueva a shot to close if they dont sign someone. He is young and this would dramatically increase his value. Villanueva, Riske, Stetter, Dillard, possibly Coffey and Mota.....nothing to be excited about.

[splitterpfj]

Good for you, Salomon, I hope you'll be happy.

 

He did a nice job last year, I wish he would've come back as the setup man.

 

The Brewers seemed destined to pursue bullpen help in the first place, there seems to be no doubt now.

[Patrick425]

He has pitched long enough. He can pitch no more.

 

What really stinks is that I had him as a $1 keeper in my fantasy league. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

 

 

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't agree that this is "horrible news". Torres was adequate for most of 2008, but late in the year, Mota was more reliable. Torres also recorded two of the most gut wrenching blown saves in team history within the course of his short time as closer.

 

I think it was already a foregone conclusion that they were going to replace him as closer either internally or externally anyway.

 

So now they have $3.75 million more to allocate to get another reliever. That's fine by me though I wouldn't overpay for a "name" closer. Bringing back Mota or adding another vet shouldn't be all that difficult to bolster the depth.

 

Trevor Hoffman might be the answer in the short term.

[Teatoe993]

Let's just do what it takes to sign CC. If he'll be able to throw complete games on 3 days rest for the entire season, then we really won't have to worry about replacing Torres that much.

[brewerfan82]

Is there any sort of compensation for retiring players? I don't think there is, but with Torres being a type B "free agent", it would be nice to at least get a comp pick out of it.

 

Good luck Salomon and enjoy your time with your family!

[Baldkin]

Gonna miss him, he was one of the better interviews on the team.

 

I won't forget this anytime soon:

 

[And That]

Is there any sort of compensation for retiring players? I don't think there is, but with Torres being a type B "free agent", it would be nice to at least get a comp pick out of it.

I don't think his family has to give up a draft pick for re-acquiring him. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[RyDogg66]

No compensation for retiring players. Compensation is premised on losing a FA to another team.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Our bullpen was average or above-avg. iirc last season.

I could see the argument for average, but it surely wasn't above average, although they did pitch better in September besides Torres.

[TooLiveBrew]

Can you compare across the league & explain why you believe it wasn't above-avg.? Seeing some of those numbers would be nice.

[sveumrules]

Our bullpen was average or above-avg. iirc last season.

I could see the argument for average, but it surely wasn't above average, although they did pitch better in September besides Torres.

the brewer's bullpen era was 3.89. good for 4th in the 16 team national league.

that's well below average.

[DHonks]

I wish we could convince Sheets to close, but he wants multi years and won't be a multi-year experiment

[bjkrautk]

I'm just glad that Salomon decided to play one more year, as he was considering retiring over accepting the trade to Milwaukee. It's not quite going out on top, but I think he knew and understood that the Brewers were likely to bring in someone else to at least compete for the Closer spot....and that's now how he'd like to end his career.

 

Can't say that I blame him for that.

[Thurston Fluff]

Good luck in all your future endeavors you were a good player and class act.

 

I'm not as worried about the bullpen as last season for some reason. I think McClung and Villy are both more established now and we have a couple younger guys in Dillard and Stetter who can step in and contribute. Riske is someone who we haven't really seen the best of yet.

[twobrewers]

I am really shocked by this news. Very disappointing - I really enjoyed watching Salomon pitch.

 

I have to imagine the Brewers were going to pick up his option. (Can you find any other relief pitchers who can go several innings and have closer experience for that price on a one year deal!?!) With that in mind, I am surprised Salomon passed up the money. I wonder if he has concerns about the new coaching staff.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm not as worried about the bullpen as last season for some reason. I think McClung and Villy are both more established now and we have a couple younger guys in Dillard and Stetter who can step in and contribute. Riske is someone who we haven't really seen the best of yet.

 

Great points, Buc. I agree with you fully, though I'm not sold on Seth McClung being anything different from the high-K/high-BB pitcher he's always been. Fortunately for the Brewers, he's in his prime-aged seasons, so we should expect to get about the best performance that he'll turn in during his career. As long as Castro can get him to stay away from the grunt-ball fastball, I'd actually love to see McClung tried at closer in 2009. I should mention (again) that I think the best RP should not be a team's closer, and I think Seth would be a decent fit (or at least worth trying). I'd rather not see him as a SP again, but he's not a terrible option if we have to fill out the rotation.

 

I think that with Dillard, DiFelice (often overlooked), Villy, Riske, McClung, Shouse, & Stetter, that's a pretty solid start to the 2009 bullpen. Maybe bring Mota back...? It sure would be great if Melvin could add someone this offseason to really be the exclamation point of that bullpen, even though I know that would probably mean said mystery pitcher would become the closer by default, given the way MLB managers tend to operate.

[joepepsi]

I hope the new manager uses the best pitcher available at the most crucial time in any given game. I also hope the Brewers enter every 9th inning leading by 5 or more runs. If both those things happen they won't have to waste $10 million on a relief pitcher.