Cleveland Indians: Can Carlos Torres make the roster?

The Cleveland Indians have several options for their bullpen this year. Carlos Torres is one of the many with plenty of big league experience.

A few weeks ago, the Indians signed Torres to a minor league deal with an invite to major league camp. As a 35 year old coming off a bad year with the Milwaukee Brewers, a deal like that was to be expected.

Now, he’s locked into a battle with guys like Matt Belisle, Alexi Ogando, Cameron Hill, and others for probably only one spot in the bullpen. And that spot is basically dependent on the team deciding to carry eight relievers, so to earn that spot, he’ll need to show something special this spring.

So far, he’s not looking too special. In three innings of work he’s allowed two runs and has given up a home run. Opposing hitters are batting .400 against him so far. To be fair, this is a small sample size, but everyone else in spring training is also running on a small sample size.

What does Torres need to work on?

The big thing that got him into trouble in Milwaukee last year was the high amount of walks he allowed. He allowed 4.1 BB/9, which is atrocious. And his 6.9 K/9 in 2017 was the lowest of his career. Luckily, in his few innings so far this spring, he hasn’t allowed any walks. So there’s some good news.

If he can stop giving hitters free passes, he’ll be fine. But he’ll need to be more than fine to make this roster. This Cleveland Indians bullpen is one of the best in baseball, and to make it into that group, you need to perform at your best.

So what are his odds?

The odds of him making the roster are trending down. Shortly after he signed, the Indians brought Matt Belisle in on a minor league deal. The odds of him making the roster got considerably worse since Belisle came to town.

He’s going to need to have the spring training of his life to crack this roster. There are very few open spots and with so much competition for them, many players will be left disappointed. Torres isn’t off to a great start already, so he will need to be perfect from here on out.

Torres likely has an opt out near the end of spring training if he does not make the roster, and he could very well choose to utilize that opt out, but if he decides to stay and hang out in Triple-A for a little bit, an opportunity could arise later in the season. Anything can happen in 162 games.

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So the odds are not good for Torres, but as a 35 year old veteran, maybe he should stay with the Cleveland Indians organization even if he doesn’t make the team. It’s a cold free agent market out there, and aging pitchers aren’t doing that well.