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

[TooLiveBrew]

From JSOnline:

 

"Melvin mentioned hard-throwing right-hander Seth McClung as an internal option to try as closer. He said he didn't plan to bid on high-priced free agent closers such as Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes."

 

Oh, that's good news. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

Nice catch, recte. That is overwhelmingly good to hear from our GM. To think, I was just going to post in the 'Biggest Fears this Offseason' thread...

[monty57]

I thought Hoffman was insulted by $4MM.

Last night's crawl on ESPN was reporting that he was upset with the Padres for withdrawing their $4MM offer.

[Tbadder]

Like Joe Pepsi, I'm sad to see Torres go. It's unusual for an ahtlete to be so passionate and so articulate. But I applaud him for turning down millions of dollars because his family is more important. I wish other older athletes would choose this option more often.

 

I vote for Villy as closer. I think he has the mental toughness. I think he could be a Trevor Hoffman in waiting. I hope this mean that DeFelice makes the club. And I hope Macha loves the three inning save. Guys like McClung and Villy and DeFelice could manage that kind of situation while keeping the bullpen fresh.

[southpaw121505]

It might be hard for us common folk to understand turning down 3.75 million dollars, but you have to respect his reasoning..family, religion. He may not be a top paid ATHLETE, but he's made a nice chunk of change, pretty sure he'll survive financially. It's kinda refreshing to see someone choose their family over money.

[Roscoe Chill]

I definitely don't think that Torres wouldn't have helped the team in the bullpen next year. BUT...I'm really glad that there won't be any possibility that the team would continue using him as the closer. He filled in nicely when called upon last year, but in the end, he wasn't a very good closer. So, $3.75 Million (?) to get another reliever to fill the same role that Torres should have in '09 anyway isn't the end of the world.

[djoctagone]

in what i consider a sensible move, the brewers yesterday picked up the $3.75 million dollar option on torres.

 

the brewers would retain the rights to torres if he decided to play next season.

 

The Brewers plan to place Torres on the voluntary retired list on Friday, which will remove Torres from Milwaukee's 40-man roster and keep the club from having to pay his salary.

Brewers pick up retired Torres' option

 

(edit: link repair --1992)

[logan82]

I thought they might do that. Makes sense.

[Invader3K]

I actually didn't realize baseball had a "voluntary retired list." Makes sense, though.

[EauClaireNWL]

Maybe we'll luck out and he'll pull a Favre and want to come back right before or during spring training. :P

[lukevan]

Maybe we'll luck out and he'll pull a Favre and want to come back right before or during spring training. :P

 

Then we'll have to listen to Doug Melvin saying "McClung is our closer, we've committed to him, Torres can come back in a backup role." :O

[1992casey]

I actually didn't realize baseball had a "voluntary retired list." Makes sense, though.

 

So many players are free agents when they retire that you don't hear much about the voluntary retired list anymore. It's for players who retire while still under a team's control.

 

It used to come into play much more often. Nowadays, players who still have a chance to earn money tend to try to earn it.