The Mets might know as soon as today whether Yorvit Torrealba will be their new catcher.
According to a report last night, Torrealba was weighing an offer from the Mets that could be worth as much as $15 million over three seasons – roughly double the guaranteed money the Rockies were offering to retain him – and he will make a decision today.
All Mets GM Omar Minaya would say yesterday is he’s comfortable with the team’s options after Jorge Posada elected to re-sign with the Yankees.
“We knew we had Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, all these plans,” Minaya said, without using Torrealba’s name. “We have different options available and hopefully we’re closing in on those options.”
In what could amount to a swap of starting catchers from 2007, the Rockies might make a play for Paul Lo Duca should Torrealba choose the Mets.
Minaya never had a chance to make his pitch to Posada, but the GM said he wasn’t crushed by the catcher’s decision to re-sign with the Yankees. Posada agreed to a four-year deal worth $52 million late Monday night, just as the Yankees’ exclusive window to negotiate with their free agents was about to close.
“I wasn’t surprised, I thought it was going to be a long shot [for the Mets],” Minaya said. “We kept an eye on it and were surprised it went down to the last day, but we never got an opportunity to make an offer.”
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Reliever Duaner Sanchez, who missed the 2007 season recovering from right shoulder problems first incurred in a taxi accident the previous summer, will play winter ball in the Dominican Republic beginning next month