Yorvit Torrealba has had himself a bit of a tumultuous month or two. After an historic World Series run with the Rockies, Torrealba hopped into free agency and fielded serious offers from the New York Mets. In all, Torrealba -- a thoroughly mediocre player -- looked set to go make a pretty penny for his mediocrity.
Alas, it was not to be. The Mets went in a different direction by unloading Guillermo Mota to the Brewers for Johnny Estrada, and Yorvit was left on the outside looking in. Now, he's accepting his fate; he'll re-sign with the Rockies:
Yorvit Torrealba is staying in Colorado, agreeing Thursday to a two-year deal worth about $7 million with a mutual option for 2010.
Torrealba, who filed for free agency after helping the Rockies reach the World Series, was set to sign a three-year contract for about twice the money with the New York Mets this month. The Rockies got back into the mix when that deal fell apart and the Mets traded for Johnny Estrada instead.
Ouch. Torrealba could have been making oh, $15 million or so, and now he's back in Colorado for half that price. I'm sure he likes being in Colorado and all ... but probably not more than an extra $8 million. Ouch.
Estrada for Kendall is a pretty lateral swap behind the plate, I think. They're both pretty terrible hitters at this point in their careers and just generally past their primes. I suppose the net benefit of this is that the Brewers pick up Mota, if you can call that a benefit. Mota was pretty terrible last year after coming back from his steroid suspension. Still, he's another arm in the bullpen for the Brewers, which they may need if they can't keep Francisco Cordero, who figures to be one of the hottest properties on the free agent market this year.
Honestly, I thought the Brewers would've tried harder to replace Estrada with someone that could hit. Kendall was traded from Oakland to the Cubs last year and promptly lost his job to the completely unproven Geovany Soto. He did hit better with the Cubs than he did with the A's, but that doesn't mean his .270/.362/.356 line is good. If Ned Yost bats him at the top of the order, we'll know he's officially gone insane.
The Mets have been trying, and failing, to go in any direction away from Paul Lo Duca this offseason. After talks with Yorvit Torrealba fell through, the Mets found another route: trade Guillermo Mota!
You wouldn't Mota would be good enough to acquire anyone of note, and, well, you'd sort of be right. Because you'd get Johnny Estrada:
"Johnny adds depth to our catching situation," Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. "He's a former All-Star who switch-hits and has hit over .300 three times in his career."
Estrada had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Oct. 4 to repair a torn meniscus. He also had a bone spur removed from his right elbow. The operations were performed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.
The 34-year-old Mota was 2-2 with a 5.76 ERA in 52 relief appearances this season. Often booed at home, the right-hander struck out 47 and walked 18 in 59 1-3 innings.
Mota wasn't just booed this season; he was in many ways the focal point for angry Mets fans during the team's historic stretch-run collapse. Tim Marchman, a normally level-headed columnist, even wrote a scathing ode to the pains involved in watching Mota pitch. Hated doesn't begin to describe Mota's standing with Mets fans.
So to gain something, anything, for Mota -- even if it is Estrada -- is a minor coup for the Mets. At the very least, it's a subtly pleasing PR move.
Usually a clubhouse shoving match like the one seen in Milwaukee today is met with a whole bunch of "we're going to keep this in-house" quotes, with variations like "we'll handle this internally". And initially, after the Johnny Estrada/Ned Yost public argument, that's exactly what we got.
But to Yost's credit, he clarified what happened in that dugout later on, and basically took his catcher off the hook:
What actually happened was that infielder Tony Graffanino, then Estrada, came to the defense of a teammate who they thought had been unfairly singled out by Yost for poor play. In an interview with the Journal Sentinel later in the day, Yost confirmed that Graffanino and Estrada were defending a teammate. Yost said it was unfortunate the incident was being interpreted by some as a problem between him and Estrada.
"Nothing could be farther from the truth," Yost said. "For Johnny Estrada to be portrayed as the villain in this, as somebody who instigated it, is not even close. To be honest, Johnny stepped up to protect his teammates."
Yost then goes on to open up his heart to us some more after the jump.
It's hard to pass judgment on the St. Louis Cardinals for their 7-1 loss to the Brewers tonight. Still, even through the worst events time and baseball march onwards. The Cardinals know that as well as anyone, and they took the field tonight wearing patches to honor Josh Hancock and playing with heavy hearts. They were pretty obviously distracted in this one and who could blame them? Kip Wells balked and made a throwing error in the first four innings in which the Brewers took a 4-1 lead.
For the Brewers part, the star of the night had to be ex-Cardinal Jeff Suppan, who threw a complete game to pick up his second win against his former teammates of 2007. I'm sure the angle of him being a former teammate of Hancock will be beaten into the ground because I hear him on Baseball Tonight as I type this, but it really was a great effort on what had to be an incredibly tough day for Suppan.
While Soup scattered 8 hits and only allowed one run over the game, the Brewers had a bit of offense to go with it. Prince Fielder hit a solo homer and ended the night with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Kevin Mench did the same. Johnny Estrada doubled two runs home in the first to give the Brewers a 2-0 they wouldn't relinquish. I'm sure the Brewers didn't feel great beating the Cardinals on this night, but they end April at 16-9 with a three game lead on the Pirates in the NL Central.
Well it's official. To nobody's surprise, Jorge Julio has lost his closer's job, most likely to lefty Taylor Tankersley.
Some interesting and honest perspective comes from Julio's former battery mate and current Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada, who caught Julio during their brief time together in Arizona.
"I caught him last year and I know that he has trouble at times throwing strikes," said Milwaukee Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada, Julio's batterymate with Arizona in 2006. "He's got a live arm and a very good fastball and a breaking ball, but he's kind of erratic. ... "He saved 15 games for us, but some of them were hard saves where he walked a couple of guys, got a couple outs that we made plays on."
In other words, when Julio enters a ballgame, teammates and fans alike hold their breath. But Estrada likes Julio, really. And he has a simple solution for his former teammate.
"He reeled off about 10 or 11 saves for us," Estrada said. "He was locating, getting some quick outs, but he had his ups and downs for sure. He had a couple of patches where he'd come in and walk the first two guys and have to battle." When Estrada jogged out to the mound in the middle of a rough ninth inning, he said he often used the Spanish word for "easy" when telling Julio to settle down. "I'd tell him, 'Suave, a little bit,' " said Estrada, who added that he wishes nothing but success for his former teammate.
Great, that's all we need is for Julio to enter a game while the P.A. plays Gerardo's 1991 hit Rico Suave as a gentle reminder to take it easy. That's a throwback I'm not quite ready for.
Carlos Zambrano has never exactly refrained from holding in his emotions on the mound or in the clubhouse. The Brewers learned this yet again this weekend after reading his comments following Saturday's game. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
While explaining the difference between his poor outing last Monday in Cincinnati and his good one Saturday, Zambrano said the key was the quality of the lineups he was facing.
''In Cincinnati, they're better hitters than in Milwaukee,'' he said. ''I don't say that the Milwaukee Brewers are nothing, but the offense of the Cincinnati Reds is better.''
Honestly, I don't think he really crossed any lines. I mean, he simply expressed an opinion I'm sure a lot of people would agree with, although I will say that one of the most intimidating aspects of facing the Reds is having to pitch in the bandbox known as the Great American Ball Park. Within the confines of "sportsmanship," though, the Brewers felt Big Z crossed the line:
''You've seen his act out there. Why listen to anything that guy says?'' Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada told Milwaukee reporters before the game. ''Seriously, that guy doesn't have much etiquette as far as I'm concerned. Zero mound presence. We'll face him a lot, and maybe we'll get him next time.''
For the most part, Estrada's sentiments echoed that of most of his teammates -- a combination of off writing Zambrano as a blowhard and feeling slighted all at the same time. Big Z did pitch better against the Brewers than the Reds, but considering he gave up two home runs to each team, he can't exactly say he dominated either lineup.
Yorvit Torrealba has had himself a bit of a tumultuous month or two. After an historic World Series run with the Rockies, Torrealba hopped into free agency and fielded serious offers from the New York Mets. In all, Torrealba -- a thoroughly mediocre player -- looked set to go make a pretty penny for his mediocrity. 
Within a day, the Brewers have completely changed their catching situation. 
The Mets have been trying, and failing, to go in any direction away from 
Usually a clubhouse shoving match like 
It's hard to pass judgment on the St. Louis Cardinals for 
Well it's official. To nobody's surprise, Jorge Julio has lost his closer's job, most likely to lefty Taylor Tankersley.
