FanHouse SalomonTorres

With the date that the free agency market opens quickly approaching, the Brewers had been trying to decide what to do with Salomon Torres. They hold a $3.75 million option on him with a Saturday deadline to exercise it and given the current depth problems Brewers' pen, it seemed pretty certain that they would pick up the option after Torres had a solid 2008. That's off the table now, because Torres has instead elected to retire. When Tom Haudricort asked for a statement, this is what Torres had to say:

"I wanted to make it easy for him," said Torres, 36, reached at home in Pittsburgh. "I already had made up my mind and wanted to tell him this was my last season."

Torres, a deeply religious man, said he wanted to devote more time to his wife and three children as well as his faith.

"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."

In the post at the Brewers' Blog Haudricort says he's surprised, but he really shouldn't be. Torres seriously contemplated retirement last winter after being traded to Milwaukee, but finally elected to accept the trade to Milwaukee. This is actually Torres' second retirement. He was a promising prospect for the Giants in the early '90s, but was crushed when he took the loss in 1993s NL West one-game playoff. He bounced around and retired in 1997, He came back with the Pirates in 2002 and found a niche in the bullpen there. His turnaround since the first half of his career has been remarkable and he's earned the right to go out on his own terms this time around.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

It's hard to think of a team that's been on more of a rollercoaster than the Milwaukee Brewers have the past five months. In June, they acquired CC Sabathia and started steamrolling towards what looked like a certain playoff berth. In September, they collapsed and nearly lost what looked like a sure wild-card berth. Then they fired Ned Yost and slid into the playoffs anyways. In October, they were knocked out by the eventual world champion Phillies. Now they've hired Ken Macha and Willie Randolph, but CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets have filed for free agency.

Of course, the important thing for the Brewers and their fans to remember is that they're going to be in good shape next year, even without Sheets and Sabathia. They've still got a great offense, they've still got Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra, and hey, Eric Gagne's gone! They're going to be a different team next year, yes. But that doesn't mean they're going to be worse.

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Here Pat Lackey and Mullet discuss the NLDS between the Brewers and Phillies.

Mullet: This series may turn out to be the least competitive of all the four first-round matchups out there. There are a lot of reasons the Phillies should take care of the Brewers in three or four games, so I'll start with this one: Brad Lidge is 41-for-41 in save opportunites this season. The Brewers bullpen, meanwhile, has Eric Gagne and Guillermo Mota. You've seen it as much as I have, bullpens win in the playoffs.

Pat Lackey: It makes me vaguely sick to my stomach to point this out, but since mid-July Eric Gagne has a 3.52 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He's not the Gagne of old, as his strikeouts are way down (17 in 23 innings over that span), but he's at least done a good job of keeping guys off of the bases for the home runs he inevitably gives up. The Brewers will likely turn to Salomon Torres in a pinch before either of the guys you named and until a couple hiccups down the stretch, he was very good this year.

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Trouble Brewing: Could it be happening again to Milwaukee? The Brewers collapsed down the stretch last season, and after a ninth-inning implosion by Salomon Torres last night against Cincinnati, fears of deja vu have to be creeping back in for Milwaukee fans.

The Brewers' edge over the Phillies in the wild-card race is down to three games, and a month that seemed like it would be a relative breeze at the start now has the potential to be a real nail-biter.

Milwaukee has two games left with the Reds at home then embarks on an 11-day, 10-game road trip that will take them to Philadelphia, Chicago and then Cincinnati. The Brewers have been very good on the road this season, but their bullpen problems are not going away over the final weeks of the regular season and in the playoffs.

Buckle up, Brewers fans. The next road trip could make or break Milwaukee's season.

Despite the heat check that the Tampa Bay Rays are on right now, they still suffered some bad news yesterday when shockingly efficient closer Troy Percival injured his hamstring in what was described as a nasty little landing. Nasty enough to get him sent out for an MRI.

That begs the question, who's the new save guy in Tampa? Dan Wheeler would be your likely answer, and if he's not owned, and you need saves, he's an immediate add. If he's already taken, pounce on Al Reyes for a backup. Both guys could see save opps, but Wheeler came in for Percival today and he has the better ratios on the season. Plus, he hasn't been tased at all this season, for whatever that's worth.

In Milwaukee, although nothing is ever made really clear, it does appear as if Salomon Torres has gotten a pretty good grip on the closer's job, picking up three saves and a win over the last week. There's no guarantee that Crazy Joe DaVola Ned Yost will actually stick with him, but for now, he should be getting run in your lineup. And certainly shouldn't be a free agent.

The Braves welcomed back Rafael Soriano on Wednesday while putting Matt Diaz on the disabled list. That's decent news for Soriano's fantasy owners -- of course you want to see him back. The bad news is that John Smoltz is going to close as soon as he is healthy, which could be soon. Start Soriano when he's pitching, but obviously look to trade him if you can.

I've always been one for letting my employer decide when I'm no longer capable of doing my job, but Eric Gagne and Jason Isringhausen apparently feel differently, being "honest" enough to let their managers know they're no longer worthy of the closer role. (Update: Gagne can apparently close again!) Either way, not a lot of confidence. What they did is rare in the sense of being voluntary, but it certainly underlies the basic fantasy notion that saves are easy to come by.

In Milwaukee, if you're looking for saves, you actually love Gagne flip-flopping; Ned Yost will probably go back to the well with him, and you'll have an easier time going after the guy who will probably end up getting the saves. Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota and David Riske are the official closer by committee. (The reality is they shouldn't have let Francisco Cordero walk, but that's neither here nor there at this point). I've been saying that Riske is my guy since early in the season, but in fairness, he hasn't pitched perfectly. Then again, neither has Torres, so I'm sticking by my guns here and saying Riske ends up with the most saves in the Milwaukee pen this year (unless Yost does something cr-r-r-r-azy and puts Carlos Villanueva in the spot).

The Cardinals end of things appears to be a little more cut and dry, in the sense that Ryan Franklin is the new go-to guy from the bullpen in St. Louis. Russ Springer and Randy Flores are apparently in the mix as well to a degree, but when you look at Springer's walk count -- five! -- since Izzy went down, it's hard to imagine Tony La Russa trusts him. Plus, Franklin is actually locking down the ninth. And the guy you want to grab for your fantasy league.

For nine and a half innings, everything seemed to be going fine for the Brewers. Yovani Gallardo cruised through seven easy innings in his first start of 2008, holding the Reds to 4 hits and only one run. They only managed one run through nine themselves, but some ugly play by the Reds in the top of the tenth allowed them to take a 3-1 lead. Accordingly, they turned things over to Eric Gagne. Then this happened:

Bottom 10th:
- E. Gagne pitching
- E. Encarnacion homered to deep left
- P. Bako homered to deep right

After one more walk, Salomon Torres came in and gave up two hits and the Brewers lost. If you're keeping track at home (and I've got a feeling you are if you're a Brewers fan), that's three blown saves for Gagne this April in nine opportunities.

It is worth noting that today was the fourth consecutive day that Gagne's pitched, which kind of makes you wonder just what Ned Yost was thinking by putting him out on the mound today. Ultimately, though, this one's showing up as another "BS" on Gagne's stat line and two of the three leads he's blown have been larger than one run. The Brewers simply need him to be better than that if they're going to keep up with the Cubs.

After a couple of days of media speculation and personal introspection, newly acquied Brewers reliever Salomon Torres told Doug Melvin today that he will in fact suit up for the Brewers in the spring. Torres was apparently the only person in the world to not be thrilled by being traded off of the Pittsburgh Pirates and to a contender and was considering retirement rather than moving his young kids out of Pittsburgh. From today's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Torres, by the way, notified Melvin on Monday that he would report to Milwaukee instead of retiring, which he contemplated because of family considerations.

"He told me he's on board and happy to be a Brewer," Melvin said.

Clearly someone talked some sense into Torres and told him this was his chance to get off of a sinking ship and on to one that could win something next year. The question now is whether or not Brewers' fans should be happy Torres isn't retiring. After moving to the pen full-time in 2004, he logged three straight years of 78+ appearances and 90+ innings. He was the ultimate inning-eating workhorse. Last year he slowed down a bit, fought injury, and turned in an awful year with an ERA of over 5.00 and only one real stretch of competent pitching (in May). So which Torres are the Brewers getting? It's hard to say for sure, but I think his age (36) might provide the best clue of all.

The Milwaukee Brewers continued the revamping of their bullpen on Friday, trading two minor leaguers to the Pirates for Salomon Torres. This trade couldn't possibly backfire horribly on the Brewers ... unless of course, Torres suddenly retires, which he's considering.

His reason: He is uncertain how a move will affect his family, which lives year-round in the North Hills.

"It's a giant move, and I have to make a decision if I want to go forward," Torres said. "This is going to change my life, my family's life. If I leave them here, they're going to have to be without me for a full year. If I take them with me, they're going to be affected."

Torres made clear he was not close to a decision, adding it might take several days or more.

"I just need to talk to my family. I can tell you this: If I go to Milwaukee, I'm going to give my heart and soul to the Brewers," he said. "If I stay, I'll be the same way. I'll be the one playing with my daughters and son and maybe even doing some of the cooking. It's a big decision, and I'm going to base it on my family."

And if Torres does some of the cooking, you can bet he'll put his heart and soul into that too. He'll cook the meanest meat loaf in all of Pennsylvania. It'll be so good, maybe he'll wind up being the Next Food Network Star, and getting his own show. Then he'll invent The Salomon Torres Grill and make so many millions, he'll never miss that guaranteed $3.2 million he's due to make in '08.

Or, he'll just do what most men do, which is burn the toast, and have everything cooked in the microwave end up cold in the middle. Luckily, being a good father isn't completely tied to being able to cook.

New Pirates' GM Neal Huntington did not come into an envious position in Pittsburgh. He's taken the reigns as GM of a franchise that has maybe 3 decent big league prospects in the entire organization, depending on your definition of prospect. Dave Littlefield left the minor league system in shambles for him. That leaves Huntington with a difficult choice. Does he try and shore up the big league roster to avoid the ignominy of the Pirates' tying the all-time record for consecutive losing seasons by a franchise in any sport? Or does he gut the team Marlins/D'Backs/Tigers style to rebuild the minor league system and try to position the franchise for long-term success at the cost of more dreary seasons for Pirate fans?

Personally, I'm hoping for the second one. I'd rather he do this thing right than try and patch things up just to save face value with casual fans. According to Metro News Canada, Huntington is doing exactly that. In fact, at the GM meetings he was supposedly taking offers for Jason Bay and the Indians, who watched Kenny Lofton, Trot Nixon, and Franklin Gutierrez, among others, try and man the corner outfield spots this year, are interested.

Off the top of my head, other Pirates that I would say will probably be moving this winter are relievers like Damaso Marte and Salomon Torres and expensive players like Jack Wilson and Matt Morris (if they can find any takers). Honestly though, I really doubt anyone that wore black and gold last year is untouchable, except maybe Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. If good enough offers come in for guys like Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche, I don't expect Huntington to think twice about dealing them. The only real question is whether the guys in the majors are good enough to help Huntington accomplish his goal of restocking the minors. I'm not so sure they are.