In the first of two trades yesterday, the Mets acquired lefty Alex Torres from the San Diego Padres for pitcher Cory Mazzoni and a player to be named later. The latter probably indicates a draftee from last year and Mazzoni had solid years for the Mets in the minors for a while. He has made some spot starts but with the current state of Mets pitching, there really wasn’t a spot for him. The Mets traded from an area of depth and got a pitcher to address an area of need: the lefty reliever.
Alex Torres has pitched in parts of three major league seasons, this year he’ll be 27. He was originally drafted by the Angels and was traded to the Rays as part of the Scott Kazmir trade. In January 2014, he was part of a large trade that landed him in San Diego.
In 2013 he pitched in 39 games and 58.0 innings with a 4-2 record, 1.71 ERA while striking out 62 batters with a WHIP of 0.897.
In 2014 he pitched in 70 games and 54.0 innings with a 3.33 ERA while striking out 51 batters and a 1.463 WHIP.
From a statistic point, his 2013 season was more impressive than his 2014 season. On the Mets he will probably be used in a capacity closer to his 2014 season (majority of appearances under one inning of work). While the WHIP is a little wary coming from a specialist, Torres brings more major league experience than the current options in camp and does look like an upgrade.
